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THE HERO OF MANILA 



YOUNG HEROES OF OUR NAVY. 

Uniform Edition. Each, i2ino, cloth, $1.00. 



The Hero of Manila. 

Dewey on the Mississippi and the Pacific. By Rossiter 
Johnson, author of " Phaeton Rogers," "A History of 
the War of Secession," etc. Illustrated by B. West Cline- 
dinst and Others. 

The Hero of Erie (Commodore Terry). 

By James Barnes, author of " Midshipman Farrap-ut," 
" Commodore Bainbridge," etc. With 10 full page Illus- 
trations. 

Commodore Bainbridge. From the Gunroom io 
the Qjiarter-deck. 
By James Barnes. Illustrated by George Gibbs and 
Others. 

Midshipman Farragut. 

By James Barnes. Illustrated by Carlton T. Chapman. 

Decatur and Somers. 

By Molly Elliot Seawell, author of " Paul Jones," 
" Little Jarvis," etc. With 6 full-page Illustrations by 
J. O. Davidion and Others. 

Paul Jones. 

By Molly Elliot Seawell. With 8 full-page Illus- 
trations. 

Midshipman Paulding. 

A True Story of the War of 1S12. By Molly Elliot 
Se.awell. With 6 full-page Illustrations. 

Little Jarvis. 

The Story of the Heroic Midshipman of the Frigate Con- 
stellation. By Molly Elliot Seawell. With 6 full- 
page Illustrations. 



D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 




Midshipman Dewey. 



THE HERO OF MANILA 

DEWEY ON THE MISSISSIPPI 
AND THE PACIFIC 



ROSSITER j;OHNSON 

AUTHOR OF PHAETON ROGERS, 
A HISTORY OF THE WAR OF SECESSION, ETC. 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY B. WEST CLINEDINST AND OTHERS 




NEW YORK 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1899 



r' 



(PYRIGHTT iSijQ, 



Copyright 
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 

TWO COPIES RECEIVED. 







PREFACE 



If this little book does not show for itself why it 
was written, how it was written, and for whom it 
was written, not only a preface but the entire text 
would be useless. The author beheves that in every life 
that is greatly useful to mankind there is a plan and 
a purpose from the beginning, whether the immediate 
owner of that life is aware of it or not; and that the 
art of the biographer — whether he is dealing with facts 
exclusively or is mingling fact and fiction — should 
make it discernible by the reader. 

The authorities that have been consulted include 
the Life of David Glasgow Farragut, by his son; Ad- 
miral Ammen's Atlantic Coast; Greene's The Missis- 
sippi; Battles and Leaders of the Civil War; The Re- 
bellion Record; Marshall's History of the Naval Acad- 
emy, and especially Adelbert M. Dewey's Life and 

Letters of Admiral Dewey. 

R. J. 

Amagansett, Sept J ruber S, iSgg. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PA'-B 

I. — The philosophy of fighting i 

II. — On the river bank 12 

III. — B.\TTLE ROYAL 23 

IV. — Education at Norwich 34 

V. — Life at Annapolis 41 

VI. — The BEGINNING of war 58 

VII. — The FIGHT FOR New Orleans 68 

VIII. — The battle at Port Hudson 92 

IX. — The capture of Fort Fisher 105 

X. — In time of peace 112 

XI. — The battle of Manila 116 

XII. — After the cattle 130 

XIII. — The problem on land 139 

XIV.— Honors 145 

XV. — Letters 149 

vii 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, 



FACING 
PACK 



Midshipman Dewey Frontispiece 

By B. West Clinedinst 

An early battle lO 

By B. West Clinedinst 
A schoolroom episode 31 

By B. West Clinedinst 

Scene of naval operations in Western rivers . . • . 65 i^ 

Farragut and Dewey ......... 69 

By B. West Clinedinst 

Whitewashing the decks ........ 73 

By B. West Clinedinst 
Order of attack on Forts Jackson and St. Philip ... 84 

Farragut's fleet passing the forts . 89 

Order of attack on Port Hudson . 95 

Passage of the batteries of Port Hudson ..... 98 

Removing the wounded ........ 104 

By B. West Clinedinst 
Diagram of Manila Bay ......... 116 / 

U. S. Cruiser Olympia, Admiral Dewey's Flagship . . . 122 

The battle of Manila 126' 

Admiral Dewey on the bridge of the Olympia .... 131 

Medal presented by Congress ....... 139 

Sword presented by Congress ....... 145 

Shield presented to the Olympia ....... 148 

Dewey Triumphal Arch, New York 151 

Charles R. Lamb, Architect 

ix 




The house in which Admiral Dewey was bom in Montpelier, Vermont. 



THE HERO OF MANILA. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF FIGHTING. 



It is not necessary to visit the Bay of Naples ra 
order to witness a beautiful sunset. Our own atmos- 
phere and our own w^aters produce those that are 
quite as gorgeous, while our own mountains and 
woodlands give them as worthy a setting as any in 
the world. 

Half a century ago a little boy sat at his chamber 
window in Vermont looking at a summer sunset. 
He was so absorbed in the scene before him and in 
his own thoughts that he did not notice the entrance 
of his father until he spoke. 



THE HERO OF MANILA. 



" \\'hat are you thinking about, George? " said the 
father. 

" About ships," the boy answered, without turning 
liis head. 

"What kind of ships?" 

" I can see nearly every kind," said George. 

" See them — where? " said his father, looking over 
his shoulder. 

" Right there in the sunset clouds," said the boy. 

"Oh!" said his father; and then, after looking a 
while, added, " Suppose you point out a few of 
them." 

" Do you see that small cloud, at some distance 
from the others — the one that is rather long and 
narrow, with a narrower one alongside? " 

"Yes, I see that." 

" Well, that," said the boy, " is a Brazilian cata- 
maran, and those little knobs at the top are the heads 
of the men that are paddling it." 

" Just so," said his father. " What else can you 
see?" 

" The catamaran," said George, " is pulling out to 
that clipper ship which has just come to anchor oflf 
the port. The clipper is the large one, with her sails 
furled. Probably the Indians have some fruit on board, 
which they hope to sell to the sailors." 
" Ouitc natural." said the father. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF FIGHTING. 3 

" And that smaller one, under full sail, fore-and-aft 
rigged, is a schooner in the coasting trade." 

" That one appears to be changing shape rapidly," 
said the father, 

" Yes," said the boy. " She is tacking, and you 
see her at a different angle." 

" I might have suspected as much," said the fa- 
ther, " but I never was a good sailor." 

" That very large one," continued the boy, " with 
a big spread of canvas and holes in her hull, where 
the red sunlight pours through, is an old-fashioned 
seventy-four, with all her battle-lanterns lit." 

" A pretty fancy," said the father, who evidently 
was becoming more interested and better able to see 
the pictures that were so vivid to his son. 

*' Do you see that dark one over at the right, with 
one near it that is very red and very ragged? " said 
the boy. 

" I do." 

" Those are the Constitution and the Java. They 
had their famous battle yesterday, and the Java was 
so badly cut up that to-day Bainbridge has removed 
her crew and set her on fire. She will blow up pretty 
soon." 

" I should like to see it," said the father. 

" And if you look over there to the left," said the 
boy, " you see quite a collection of rather small 



THE HERO OF MANILA. 



ones, most of ihcm very red, some half red and half 
black. It looks a little confused at first, but when 
you know what it is you can see plainly enough that 
it is the battle of Lake Erie. In the very center 
there is a small boat, and on it something that looks 
black and blue and red, with a, little white. The black 
is cannon smoke. The blue and red and white is the 
American flag, which Perry is taking over to the 
Niagara, because the Lawrence is so badly damaged 
that he has had to leave her. That one with only 
one mast standing is the Lawrence." 

" Yes, my son, I think you have accounted beau- 
tifully for everything there except one. What is that 
dark one, with rounded ends and no mast, just be- 
yond the clipper? " 

" Oh, that," said the boy, taking a moment for 
reflection, " I think that must be a bullhead boat on 
the Delaware and Hudson Canal." 

" It is a good representation of one," said his fa- 
ther, smiling. " But, George, how came you to know 
so much about ships and boats and naval history? " 

" By reading all I could find about them, sir." 

" Well, George, I am really pleased," said Dr. 
Dewey; "pleased and encouraged to know that you 
liave taken to reading instead of fighting. I was afraid 
you never would love books; but now that you have 
])cgun, you shall have all the good ones you will read." 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF FIGHTING. 5 

"Thank you, father, I shall be t^lad of theni." 

" But come now, my son, supper is ready, and your 
sister is waiting for us." 

" I will come pretty soon," said George, and his 
father descended the stairs. 

A little later the boy went slowly down, and quiet- 
ly slipped into his place at the table. 

In a few minutes Dr. Dewey looked up, then 
started as if surprised, and dropped his hands to the 
edge of the table. He took a sharp look at George, 
and then said: 

" What does that mean? How came you by that 
black eye? " 

" There is only one way to get a black eye that 
I know of," said the boy. 

" Fighting? " 

" Yes, sir." 

The doctor was silent for several minutes, and then 
said: 

" I don't know what to say to you or do to you, 
my son. You know what I have said to you about 
your fighting habit, and you know that I mean it, for 
I have not only talked to you, but punished you. 
When I found you had been reading history I took 
new hope, for I thought you must have got past the 
fighting age and given your mind to better things. 
But here you are again with the marks of a pugilist." 



THE HERO OF MANILA. 



" I don't fight Avhen I can help it, and I'm afraid 
I never shall get past the fighting age," said George. 

" Don't fight when you can help it? " said his fa- 
ther. " Can't you always help it? " 

" I might by running away. Do you want me to 
do that?" the boy answered quietly. 

" Of course I don't," said the doctor quickly. 
" But can't you keep away? " 

" I have to go to school," said George, " and I 
have to be with the boys; and some of them are quar- 
relsome, and some are full of conceit, and some need 
a good licking now and then." 

" And you consider it your duty to administer it," 
said the doctor. " Conceit is a crime that can not be 
too severely punished." 

The boy felt the irony of his father's remark, 
and saw that he did not quite understand that 
use of the word " conceit," so he proceeded to ex- 
plain : 

" When a boy goes about bragging how many 
boys he has licked, and how many others he can lick, 
and how he will do this, that, and the other thing, 
if everybody doesn't look out, we say he is too con- 
ceited and he ought to have the conceit taken out 
of him; and the first good chance we get we take 
it out." 

" Suppose you left it in him and paid no atten- 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF FIGHTING. 



tion to it — what would happen in that case? " said the 
doctor. 

" He would grow more and more conceited," said 
George, " and make himself so disagreeable that the 
boys couldn't enjoy life, and before a great while you 
would find him picking on smaller boys than himself 
and licking them, just to have more brag." 

" Do you really have any such boys among your 
schoolfellows, or is this only theoretical? " the doctor 
inquired. 

" There are a few," said George. 

" And how^ do you determine whose duty it is to 
take the conceit out of one of them? Do you draw 
lots, or take turns? " 

" The boy that enjoys the job the most generally 
gets it," said George. 

" Just so," said the doctor. " And is there some 
one boy in the school wdio enjoys the job, as you call 
it, more than all the others? " 

George evidently felt that this question came so 
near home he ought not to be expected to answer it, 
and he was silent. 

His elder sister, Mary (they had lost their mother 
five years before), now spoke for the first time. 

" Perhaps," said she, " we ought to ask George to 
tell us the circumstances of this last fight. I don't 
beheve he is always the one to blame." 



THE HERO OF MANILA. 



" Certainly," said the doctor; " that is only fair. 
Tell us all about it, George." 

Thereupon the boy proceeded to tell them all 
about it in a very animated manner. 

" Bill Amnion," he began, " is one of the bossing- 
est boys in school. He expects to have everything 
his way. I don't blame a boy for wanting things his 
own way if he takes fair means to get them so, but 
Bill doesn't always. You and the teacher tell me 
that bad habits grow w^orse and worse, and I sup- 
pose it was that way with Bill. At any rate, we 
found out a few days ago that he was taking regu- 
lar toll out of two smaller boys — Jimmy Nash and 
Teddy Hawkins — for not licking them. Each of them 
had to bring him something twice a week — apples, or 
nuts, or marbles, or candy^ or something else that he 
wanted — and he threatened not only to lick them if 
they did not bring the things, but to lick them twice 
as hard if they told any one about it." 

"Why did those boys submit to such treatment?" 
said the doctor. 

" Well, you see," said George, " Jimmy Nash's 
father is a Quaker, and doesn't believe in hurt- 
ing anybody, and so if Jimmy gets into any trouble 
he whales him like fury as soon as he finds it out. 
And Teddy Hawkins's mother gives him plenty of 
spending money, so he is always able to buy a little 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF FIGHTLXG. 9 

something- to please Bill, and I suppose he would 
rather do that than fight." 

" If they were boys of any spirit," said the doctor 
indignantly, " I should think they would join forces 
and give Bill the thrashing he deserves. The two 
together ought to be able to do it." 

"Yes, they could," said George; "but, you see, 
they are not twins, and can't always be together — in 
fact, they live a long way apart — and as soon as Bill 
caught either of them alone he would make him pay 
dear for it. He needed to be licked by some one 
boy." 

" I see," said the doctor; " a Decatur was wanted, 
to put an end to the tribute." 

" Exactly! " said George, and his father's eyes twin- 
kled with pleasure to see that he understood the allu- 
sion. He was specially anxious that his boy should 
become familiar with American history, but he had no 
anticipation that his son would one day make Ameri- 
can history. 

" When we found it out," George continued, " Bill 
tried to make us believe that Jimmy and Teddy were 
simply paying him to protect them. He said he was 
their best friend. 'What protection do they need?' 
said I. ' They are peaceable little fellows, and there 
is nobody that would be coward enough to attack 
them.' Bill saw that he was cornered on the argu- 



THE HERO OF MANILA. 



nicnt, and at the same time he got mad at the word 
coward, thinking I meant it for him. I didn't, for I 
don't consider him a coward at all." 

" Not if he is a bully?" said the doctor. 

" No, sir," said George. " He certainly is some- 
thing of a bully, but he is not cowardly." 

" There you agree with Charles Lamb," said the 
doctor. 

" Who is Charles Lamb? " said George. 

" He was an Englishman, who died fifteen or 
twenty years ago," said the doctor, " and I hope you'll 
read his delightful essays some day — but not till you've 
mastered American history. Attend to that first." 

'' ril try to," said George. " When Bill flared up 
at that word he seemed to lose his head a little. 
' Who are you calling a coward? ' said he, coming up 
close to me, with his fist clenched. I said I never 
called anybody a coward, because if he wasn't one it 
wouldn't be true, and if he was everybody would find 
it out soon enough, without my telling them. ' Well, 
you meant it for me,' said he, ' and you'll have to 
fight it out, so you'd better take off your jacket 
mighty quick.' I said I had no objection " 

"You had no ol)jcction! " exclaimed his sister 
Mary. 

" Well — that is — under the circumstances," said 
George, " I didn't see how I could have any. I had 







An early battle. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF FIGHTING. ii 

no right to have any. Those two boys (Hd need pro- 
tection — they needed to be protected against Bill Am- 
nion, who was robbing them. And I thought I might 
as well do it as anybody. So i said, ' Come over to 
the orchard, boys,' and we all went. Teddy Hawkins 
held my jacket, and Sim Nelson held Bill's. We 
squared off and sparred a little while, and I suppose 
I must have been careless, for Bill got the first clip 
at me, landing on my eye. But pretty soon I fetched 
him a good one under the cheek bone, and followed 
that up with a smasher on " 

Here Mary turned pale, and showed signs of un- 
easiness and repugnance. George, who was warming 
up with his subject, did not notice her, but was going 
on with his description of the fight, when his father 
stopped him. 

" Your sister," he said, " has no taste for these par- 
ticulars. Never mind them until some time when you 
and I are alone. Only tell us how it turned out." 

" The boys said it turned out that I gave Bill 
what he deserved, and I hope I did, but I didn't tell 
them what a mighty hard job I found it." 

" Bravo, George! " exclaimed the doctor, and then 
quickly added: " But don't fight any more." 



CHAPTER 11. 

ON THE RIVER BANK. 

A GROUP of boys sat on the bank of Onion River, 
looking at the water and occasionally casting pebbles 
into it. Wet hair, bare feet, and other circumstances 
indicated that they had not long been out of it. Be- 
low them, in one of the comparatively shallow, flat- 
bottomed reaches, a company of smaller boys were 
paddling about, some ■• taking their first lessons in 
swimming, some struggling to duck each other, and 
some carefully keeping aloof for fear of being ducked. 
Trees, rocks, broken sunlight, and a summer breeze 
made the little scene quite Arcadian. 

" ]\Iy uncle is going to California to dig gold," 
said one of the larger boys, who answered to the name 
of Tom Kennedy. 

" My father says they have discovered gold mines 
in Australia that are richer than those in California," 
said another, Felix Ostrom by name. 

" But that is twice as far away," said the first 
speaker, " and you can only get there by a long sea 
vovage. You can go overland to California, and be 



ON THE RIVER BANK. 13 

in our own country all the time. Isn't that a great 
deal better, even if you don't get quite so much gold? " 

" It wouldn't be better for me," answered George 
Dewey. " I would rather go by sea, and would rather 
go to other countries. I want to see as many of them 
as I can. I would especially like to sail in the Pacific 
Ocean." 

" Why the Pacific? " said Tom. 

" Because," said George, " that is not only the 
largest ocean in the w^orld, but it has the most islands 
and touches the countries that we know the least 
about." 

" It's an ugly thing to get to it, round Cape Plorn," 
said Felix. 

" You can go through the Strait of Magellan," 
said George. " Last week I found a book of voyages 
in my Aunt Lavinia's house, and I've been reading 
all about Magellan. He was the discoverer of the 
Pacific Ocean, and he sailed through that strait to 
find it." 

" He must have been a very modest man," said 
Tom. 

" Why? " 

" Because he didn't name it Magellan Ocean." 

" He called it the Pacific because he found it so 
calm," said George. " And he sailed clear across it. 
Just think of coming to an unknown sea five or six 



14 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

thousand miles wide, and sailing right out into it, and 
on and on, past islands and reefs, and sometimes long 
stretches with nothing in sight but sky and water, 
and no way to tell when you'll come to the end of it! 
And when you stop at an island you don't know 
what you'll find, or whether you'll find anything — 
even good drinking-water. And he didn't know 
whether the earth was really round, for no one had 
ever sailed round it before. I think that beats Co- 
lumbus." 

" Was he really the first one to sail round the 
world? " said Felix. 

" Not exactly," said George. " His ship was the 
first that ever went round, but he didn't get round 
with her." 

"Why not?" 

" Because when they got to the Philippine Islands, 
which they discovered, they went ashore on one of 
them and had a fight with the natives, and Magel- 
lan was killed." 

" I guess the Philippine Islands are pretty good 
ones to keep away from," said Sammy Atkinson. 

" I should be willing to take my chances, if I 
could get there," said George. " But I suppose I never 
shall." 

" You can't tell," said Sandy Miller, a boy who 
had recently come from Scotland with his parents, 



ON THE RIVER BANK. 15 

" what savage countries you may visit afore you die. 
Two years ago I didn't dream I'd ever come to 
America." 

" Do you call ours a savage country? " said Felix, 
with a twinkle in his eye. 

" I didn't exactly mean to," said Sandy, " and yet 
I think I might, when I remember how all you boys 
wanted to fight me the first week I was here, only 
because I was a stranger." 

" Not quite all," said George. 

" No, I take that back," said Sandy. " You say 
truly not quite all, for you yourself didn't, and I 
mustn't forget it of you. I suppose it's human na- 
ture to w^ant lo fight all strangers, and maybe that's 
the reason the Philippine men killed Master Ma- 
gellan. I suppose they'd try to do the same if any- 
body went there now. But I wish you'd tell us 
more about him and about the Pacific and the 
Philippines, for I am aye fond of the sea; I en- 
joyed every wave on the Atlantic when we came 
over." 

Thereupon George, being urged by the other 
boys as well, gave an account, as nearly as he could 
remember, of what he had read. 

" What has become of those islands? " said Bill 
Ammon. 

" They are there yet," said George. 



i6 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

" Did yon think they were snnk in the sea? " said 
Tom Kennedy. 

" It might not be very ridiculous if he did," said 
George, " for they have terrific earthquakes, and a 
good many of them." 

'' Of course I meant," Bill explained, " who owns 
them?" 

'' Spain says she does," said George, " and she has 
had them a long time, for she took possession of them 
about fifty years after they were discovered; but she 
came pretty near losing them forever about a century 
ago." 

'' How was that? " Bill inquired. 

" A British force attacked them," said George, 
" and stormed Manila, the capital, and the city had 
its choice to pay five million dollars or be given up to 
the soldiers for plunder. It paid the money." 

"Do you think that was right?" Felix Ostrom 
asked. 

" I don't know^ enough about it to say," George 
answered; "but I suppose war is war, and when it 
has to be made at all it ought to be made so as to 
accomplish something." 

" What was the name of Magellan's ship? " asked 
Tom Kennedy. 

" He started with five ships," said George, " but 
four of them were lost. The largest was only eighty 



ON THE RIVER BANK. 



feet long. The one that went round the world and 
got home was the Victoria." 

" Huh! " said Tom, " 1 might have known il — ju^t 
like those Britishers, naming everything after their 
queen." 

" Magellan was not a Britisher, he was Portu- 
guese," said George. " And Queen Victoria was not 
born till about three hundred years after his famous 
voyage." 

The boys burst into a roar of laughter and hooted 
at Tom. 

" It's all very well for you to laugh," said Tom 
when the merriment had subsided a little, " but I'd 
like to know how many of you would have known 
that I made a blunder if George Dew-ey hadn't ex- 
plained it to you — probably not one. I can't see that 
anybody but George has a right to laugh at me, and 
I noticed that he laughed least of all." 

The boys appeared to feel the sting of Tom's argu- 
ment, but at the same time they felt that any op- 
portunity to laugh at him should be improved, be- 
cause he was critical and sarcastic above all the rest. 
They wanted to resent his remark, but did not know 
of any way to do it efTectively, and were all getting 
into ill humor when Felix Ostrom thought of a way 
to turn the subject and restore good feeling. 

" Look here, boys," said he, " as we are talking 



i8 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

about the sea, and some of us intend to be sailors 
when we are old enough, I'd like to propose that 
Sandy Miller sing us a sea song. He knows a rip- 
ping good one, and I know he can sing it, for I heard 
him once at his house." 

There was an immediate demand for the song, 
which was so loud and emphatic and unanimous that 
Sandy could not refuse. 

" It's one that my great aunt, Miss Corbett, 
wrote," said he. " I can't remember it all, but I'll 
sing you a bit of it as well as I can. Ye'll just re- 
member that I'm no Jenny Lind nor the choir of the 
Presbyterian church." Then he sang: 

" I've seen the waves as blue as air, 
I've seen them green as grass ; 
But I never feared their heaving yet. 

From Grangemouth to the Bass. 
Fve seen the sea as black as pitch, 

Fve seen it white as snow; 
But I never feared its foaming yet, 
Though the waves blew high or low. 

When sails hang flapping on the masts. 

While through the waves we snore, 
When in a calm we're tempest-tossed. 
We'll go to sea no more — 

No more — 
We'll go to sea no more. 

"The sun is up, and round Inchkeith 
The breezes softly blaw ; 
The gudeman has the lines on board — 
Awa* ! my bairns, awa' ! 



ON THE RIVER BANK. 19 

An' ye'll be back by gloamin' gray, 

An' bright the fire will low, 
An' in your tales and sangs we'll tell 
How weel the boat ye row. 

When life's last sun gaes feebly down. 

An' death comes to our door. 
When a' the world's a dream to us, 
We'll go to sea no mon — 

No more — 
We'll go to sea no more." 

When the applause that greeted the song had sub- 
sided, little Steve Leonard asked: " I suppose that 
means they'll sail all their lives, doesn't it?" 

" Yes, it means just about that," said Tom Ken- 
nedy. 

Paying no attention to the touch of sarcasm in 
Tom's intonation, Steve added: 

" Well, they might do that in a fishing boat, but 
they couldn't do it in the navy. My Uncle Wal- 
ter is an of^cer in the navy, and he's got to 
get out of it next year, because he'll be sixty-two 
years old, though there isn't a gray hair in his 
head." 

" The people in the song zvcre fishermen," said 
Sandy. 

At this moment there was a cry of alarm among 
the small boys in the stream. One of them had got 
beyond his depth and had disappeared beneath the 
surface. 



THE HERO OF MANH.A. 



The larger boys rushed down the bank with 
eager inquiries: "Where?" "Where did he go 
down? " 

But two of them — George Dewey and Bill Amnion 
— did not need to wait for the answer. They knew 
the exact depth of every square yard in that part 
of the river, and the set of the current at every point, 
for they had been in it and through it more than a 
hundred times. 

" Run down the bank and go in by the pine tree, 
Bill," said George. " I'll go in just below the riffle 
and explore the cellar-hole!" 

A few seconds later both of these boys had disap- 
peared under water. 

The " cellar-hole," as the boys called it, was a 
place where some natural force, probably frost and 
the current, had excavated the bed of the river to 
a depth of eight or ten feet, with almost perpendicu- 
lar walls. It was a favorite place for the larger boys 
to dive; and another of their amusements consisted 
in floating down into it with the current, w^iich, just 
before entering the cellar-hole, ran swiftly through a 
narrow channel. 

The two boys w^ere under water so long that their 
companions began to fear they never would come up. 
From the excited state of their minds it seemed even 
longer than it really was. 



ON THE RIVER BANK. 



Bill was the first to appear, and as soon as he 
could get his breath he reported " No luck! " 

A moment later George came up, and it was evi- 
dent that he was bringing something. As soon as Bill 
saw this he swam toward him, and at the same time 
two other boys plunged in from the bank. They 
brought ashore the apparently lifeless body of little 
Jimmy Nash and laid it on the grass. 

" What shall we do? " said several. 

" Shake the water out of him," said one. 

'' Stand him on his head," said another. 

*' Roll him over a barrel," said a third. 

" Somebody run for a doctor," said a fourth; and 
this suggestion was quickly carried out by two of the 
smaller boys, who scampered ofif in search of a physi- 
cian, 

" The barrel is the right idea," said George, " but 
there is no barrel anywhere in sight. Boys, bring us 
that big log." 

Half a dozen boys made a rush for the log, rolled 
it down the slope, and brought it to the place where 
it was wanted. They laid Jimmy across it, face down, 
and gently rolled him back and forth, which brought 
considerable water out of his lungs. 

One of the boys who had run for a physician had 
the good fortune to come upon Dr. Dewey, who was 
passing in his gig, and shouted: 



THE HERO OF MANILA. 



" Doctor! Doctor! there's a drownded boy down 
here! Come quick! " 

The doctor sprang to the ground, tied his horse 
to the fence in less time than it takes to tell it, and 
followed the excited boy across the field and down 
the bank. 

After working over the little fellow about half an 
hour he brought him back to consciousness, and at 
the end of another half hour Jimmy was well enough 
to be taken to his home. He was very weak, and two 
large boys walked beside him, supporting him by the 
arms, while all the others followed in a half-mournful, 
half-joyful procession. 

" I wonder if Jimmy's father will lick him for be- 
ing drowned," said Tom Kennedy. 



CHAPTER III. 

BATTLE ROYAL. 

Winter came to Montpelier, and with it frost, 
snow, and a new school year. 

The first snowfall was in the night, and by noon 
of the next day it was soft enough to pack, presenting 
an opportunity for fun such as American boys never 
forego. Big or little, studious or indolent, every one 
of those whose acquaintance we have made in the pre- 
ceding pages, together with many of their schoolmates 
whom we have not named, took up handfuls of the 
cold, white substance, fashioned them into balls, and 
tried his skill at throwing. It is the Yankee form of 
carnival, and woe to him who fails to take the pelt- 
ing good-naturedly. 

That day the fun was thickest at the orchard near 
the schoolhouse. Half a dozen boys, partly sheltered 
by the low stone wall, were considered to be in a fort 
which a dozen others were attacking. At first it was 
every man for himself, " load and fire at will," but 
as the contest grew hotter (if -that term will do for a 
snow battle) it was necessary to organize the work 

3 23 



24 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

a little. So the smaller boys were directed to give 
their attention entirely to the making of balls, which 
the larger ones threw with more accuracy and force. 
One boy, having a notion to vary the game with an 
experiment, rolled up a ball twice as large as his 
head, managed to creep up to the wall with it, and 
then threw it up into the air so that it came down 
inside the fort. When it came down it landed on 
the head and shoulders of Teddy Hawkins, broke 
into a beautiful shower, and for a moment almost 
buried him out of sight. This feat of military skill 
received its appropriate applause, but the author of 
it had to pay the cost. Before he could get back 
to his own lines he was a target for every marksman 
in the fort, and at least half a dozen balls hit him, at all 
of which he laughed — with the exception of the one 
that broke on his neck and dropped its fragments 
inside his collar. 

When there was a lull in the contest a boy looked 
over the wall and hailed the besiegers with: 
"Boys, see who's coming up the road!" 
A tall man who carried a book under his arm and 
apparently was in deep thought was approaching. 
This was Pangborn, the schoolmaster, fresh from col- 
lege, still a hard student, and assumed by the boys 
to be their natural enemy from the simple fact that 
he had come there to be their teacher. 



BATTLE ROYAL. 25 



When he appeared at this interesting moment there 
was no need of any formal proclamation of truce be- 
tween the contending forces. The instinct of the 
country schoolboy suggested the same thought prob- 
ably to every one, whether besieger or besieged. The 
word passed along, " Make a lot of them, quick! and 
make them hard." 

The little fellows whose hands were red and sting- 
ing with cold worked with double energy, and the 
larger ones ceased throwing at one another, stepped 
back to places where they were not so likely to be 
seen from the road, and by common consent formed 
an ambush for the unsuspecting teacher. 

When he came within range a ball thrown by 
George Dewey, which knocked off his cap, was the 
signal for a general attack, and the next minute he 
thought himself in the center of a hailstorm, the hail- 
stones being as large as country newspapers ever rep- 
resent them. After the first sensation of bewilderment, 
he realized the situation, and being a man of quick 
wit, with some experience of boys, he saw what was 
the one proper thing to do. 

Coolly laying down his book on his cap where it 
rested on the snow, and paying little attention to the 
balls that were still whizzing round him, he proceeded 
to make five or six, as round and solid as could be 
desired. Then, looking for the leader of the attack, 



26 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

and recognizing him in Dewey, he charged upon that 
youngster and delivered every ball with unerring aim. 
It was so good an exhibition of marksmanship that 
all the other combatants stood still and looked on, 
their appreciation of all good throwing balancing their 
repugnance to all teachers. 

When he had delivered his last ball, which Master 
Dewey received courageously and good-naturedly in 
the breast, Mr. Pangborn picked up his book and 
his hat and resumed his walk, the small boys now 
coming to the front and sending their feeble shots 
after him. 

" Fm afraid he's game," said Tom Kennedy. 

'' I'm not afraid of it, I'm glad of it," said Sim 
Nelson. " I want him to be game. Of course we 
must try to lick him, before the term's over, but I 
hope we won't succeed. I want the school to go 
on, and want to learn something. This may be my 
last winter, for I've got to go to a trade pretty 
soon. I was just getting a good start last winter. I 
was nearly through fractions when we licked old Hig- 
gins and he gave up the school." 

" Then why do we lick the teacher at all? " said 
Sammy Atkinson. 

" I suppose it wouldn't answer not to," said Sim. 
" What would the boys over in the Myers district say 
if we didn't give him a tug? " 



BATTLE ROYAL. 27 

" The boys in the Myers district tried it with tlicir 
teacher last week, and got licked unmercifully," said 
Bill Ammon. 

" At any rate," said Sim, '" it appears to be an old 
and settled fashion. Father had a visit last night from 
a schoolmate, and they were talking over old times, 
and I heard them give a lively description of a fight 
with a teacher. After they had driven out three 
men in three winters, the trustees engaged a woman 
teacher. She was tall and strong, and not afraid of 
anything. Of course they couldn't fight her, because 
she was a woman; but all the same she laced those 
boys with a rawhide whenever they broke the rules. 
But father said she hadn't much education; she never 
took them beyond simple fractions, because she didn't 
understand arithmetic beyond that point herself. 
When they got there she w'ould say, ' I think now 
we ought to take some review lessons; I believe in 
thoroughness.' And in the reading class she taught 
them to say So'-crates and Her'-cules, instead of Soc'- 
ra-tes and Her'-cu-les. Father said the boys learned 
lots of obedience that winter, but nothing else." 

" Well, of course," said Teddy Hawkins — and his 
words were slow, because he was trying at the same 
time to bite ofT the end of a big stick of Spanish 
licorice — " if it was the custom of our forefathers — 
we must keep it up. But w^e want a good boy — to 



28 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



lead the fight and manage it. If ^ve do it — in a 
helter-skelter way — we'll — get — licked." 

"Certainly!" said Sim. "And that may be the 
result of it any way. Dewey's the fellow to lead the 
crowd and take charge of it. What do you say — will 
you do it^ George? " 

" If he does anything that we ought to lick him 
for, I will," said George. " But if you're going to be 
the ones to pick the quarrel, you may count me out." 

The next day the teacher brought a mysterious 
parcel and laid it in his desk without undoing it. 
He had had charge of the school only a week, and 
by overlooking many occurrences that might have 
been taken as a deliberate challenge, he had hoped to 
make the boys see for themselves that he bore them 
no ill-will. His forbearance had been taken for timid- 
ity, and many of his pupils saw in the tall young 
graduate only another victim who was destined very 
soon to follow the vanquished teacher of the preceding 
winter. 

Contrary to their expectations, Mr. Pangborn 
opened the school as usual, and made no allusion to 
the snowballing afifair. 

The first class was ordered to take position be- 
fore his desk. As they filed past, one of the boys, 
extending his foot, tripped another. The boy that 
was tripped made a great fuss about it, fell unneces- 



BATTLE ROYAL. 29 

sarily over a bench, and professed to be hurl both 
in mind and in body. 

Mr. Pangborn called the aggressor before him and 
said: 

" I was willing to pass over what occurred yes- 
terday at the orchard, and I had no intention of in- 
forming your parents about it. I recognize the fact 
that you are boys, and I know that boys like fun 
and must have it. If you sometimes misplace your 
fun and overdo it, and act like highwaymen instead 
of good, healthy, civilized boys, if it is outside the 
schoolhouse and school hours I have no more to say 
about it than any other citizen. But when you're 
here you've got to behave yourselves. I will say no 
more about what has just occurred, but at the least 
sign of any further riot or misbehavior I'll put a stop 
to it in a way that you'll remember, and this will 
help me." 

With that he opened the parcel and displayed a 
large new rawhide. 

For a few seconds there was a dead silence in 
the room. Then a boy in one of the back seats — it 
was George Dewey — stood up and said: 

" Mr. Pangborn, I want to tell you what I think 
about that, and I guess most of the boys think as 
I do. If they don't, I hope you'll let them say what 
they do think. You've been giving us sums in pro- 



30 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

portion, and my father tells me I must try to apply 
everything I learn. If I do anything wrong I'm will- 
ing to be licked according; but I don't want to take 
a big thrashing for a little thing. I don't beheve 
any boy in this school will do anything bad enough 
to deserve that rawhide; you can't give any but the 
biggest thrashings with it. And so if you attempt 
to use it at all we'll all turn in and lick you." 

" You've made quite a good show of argument, 
George," said the teacher, " and I like to have a boy 
exercise his reasoning powers — that's one thing I'm 
here to teach you. But there is a serious fault or 
two in your statement of the case. In the first place, 
no boy is obliged to do any wrong, little or great; 
he is at perfect liberty to obey all the rules and be- 
have like a gentleman, and if he does so he'll not 
be touched by this rawhide or anything else. If he 
chooses to break the rules he knows beforehand what 
it will cost him, and he has no right to complain. 
In the second place, the trustees have not put you 
here to govern the school or judge how it ought to 
be governed. They have employed me for that; and 
I intend to do what I have agreed to do and am paid' 
for doing. I have come here to teach the school, but 
I can't teach without order and obedience on the part 
of the pupils; and order and obedience I will have — 
pleasantly if I can, forcibly if I must. If you had 




)--V''-' 



A schoolroom episode. 



BATTLE ROYAL. 31 

stopped, George, at the end of your argument, I 
should stop here with my answer, and should praise 
you for having reasoned out the case as well as you 
could, though you did not arrive at the right conclu- 
sion. Nothing will please me better than for the boys 
to cultivate a habit of doing their own thinking and 
learn to think correctly. You will always find me 
ready to listen to reason. But you did not stop at 
the end of your argument; you added a threat to 
attack me with the whole school to help you and 
overcome me. Whatever you may say of big and 
little faults, you have now committed one of the 
greatest. If I passed over such a breach of discipline, 
my usefulness here would be at an end. Unless I am 
master there can be no school. If you see the jus- 
tice of this and are manly enough to acknowledge it, 
you may simply stand up and apologize for your threat, 
and then we'll go on with the lessons as if nothing 
had happened. If not, of course you must take the 
consequences." 

" I don't know how to apologize," said George, 
" and I'm not going to." 

" Then step out here," said the teacher, as he 
took up the rawhide. 

The boy went forward at once, with his fists 
clenched and his eyes blazing. 

Mr. Pangborn saw there was good stuff in him, 



32 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

if only it were properly cultivated, and could not re- 
press a feeling of admiration for his courage. 

" Now let's see you strike me," said George. 

The next instant the rawhide came down across 
his shoulders, and with a cry of rage the boy threw 
himself upon his teacher, fighting like a terrier. 

Then five or six of the larger boys came to 
George's aid; most of the smaller ones followed them; 
those who were not anxious to fight did their part 
by yelling, overthrowing desks, and spilling ink; and 
the whole place was in a hideous uproar. They 
charged upon the teacher from all sides, but he held 
fast to Dewey's collar with one hand while he plied 
the rawhide with the other. The largest boy, who 
had received a stinging cut across the face, got a 
stick from the wood-box and let it fly at the master's 
head, which it narrowly missed. Feeling that his life 
might be in danger, Mr. Pangborn picked up the stick 
and waded into the crowd, using it as a policeman 
uses his club. The boy who had thrown it was toppled 
over with a blow on the head, and in three minutes 
all the others were driven out of the schoolhouse, 
some of them feeling a little lame about the shoulders 
and sides — all except Dewey, on whom the teacher 
had not relaxed his grip. He now resumed the raw- 
hide and gave the boy as much more as he thought 
he deserved. 



BATTLE ROYAL. sz 

A little later they left the house together and 
walked up the street to Dr. Dewey's office, where the 
boy was turned over to his father, with a brief state- 
ment of the circumstances. Dr. Dewey thanked the 
teacher for what he had done, and the lesson to 
George was complete. 

The next morning George was in his seat at the 
tap of the bell, and throughout the day he was as 
orderly and studious as could be desired. When 
the session was over and the teacher was leaving the 
house, he found the boy waiting for him at the door. 
George extended his hand and said: 

" Father and I talked that matter all over, and 
we both came to the conclusion that you did exactly 
right. I thank you for it." 

From that time Zenas K. Pangborn and George 
Dewey were fast friends. 



CHAPTER IV. 

EDUCATION AT NORWICH. 

A YEAR later George Dewey left the school and 
went to the Morrisville Academy, and there also Mr. 
Pangborn's teachings stood him in good stead. His 
aptitude in sports always made Dewey a favorite with 
his companions. He was one of the fastest runners 
and the best skaters, and he had the knack of do- 
ing everything he did quickly and neatly, in the way 
that shows the properly balanced relations between 
mind and eye and body. He acted as he thought — 
quickly and surely — and he was certain to resent any 
insult or infringement of what he considered his rights. 

Dr. Dewey had been thinking over his son's fu- 
ture, and had decided upon sending George to West 
Point, although even at this time the boy's inclinations 
turned more strongly to the other branch of the serv- 
ice. Yet he did not strenuously object, and so after 
a year at Morrisville he was sent to Norwich Uni- 
versity at Northfield, Vermont. 

Norwich University stands on a plateau above the 
town of Northfield. It is a fine old place, with a wide 

34 



EDUCATION AT NORWICH. 35 

parade-ground extending before the buildings, and 
back of it are the brick barracks that contain the 
cadets' quarters and the armory and recitation rooms. 
Everything was managed in miHtary fashion, and there 
was no better school in which to fit a boy for the 
life and habits of a soldier. It was in the year 1851 
that George Dewey became a pupil there, and from 
the day of his coming he manifested the powers of 
leadership that afterward distinguished him. 

Four or five young fellows in uniform were seated 
in one of the rooms in the South Barrack. They 
belonged to the second-year men, and the second 
year at any institution of learning is perhaps the cru- 
cial one. If a boy gets into any mischief that is 
serious, it is generally in his second year. The doings 
of the sophomore have cost many a dollar out of the 
college treasury, to pay for stolen gates and burned 
fences, smashed lamp-posts and injured constables. 
And it was so with the second year's men at Norwich. 

" Where's Doc. Dewey? " asked one of the boys. 
" We must get him into the scheme, or the whole 
thing will fall through." 

" If any of you fellows want to see Doc. Dewey, 
all you've got to do is to come to the window," said 
a boy who was gazing out on the parade ground. 

At the farther end a soHtary figure was patrolling 
up and down, turning at the end of his beat about a 



36 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



large elm that stood in the corner of the campus. 
The punishments at Norwich were of a miUtary char- 
acter, and extra sentry duty was the reward for any 
breach of discipHne. 

" I ought to be the one doing all that march- 
ing," said one of the boys, " for George only tried to 
get me out of the scrape, but he wouldn't let me tell." 

" Well, he'll be off in half an hour," said another, 
" and we'll meet in his rooms. What do you say? " 

" So say we all of us," was the return. " We can 
hatch up the scheme there better than anywhere else." 

In a few minutes the party broke up, to meet later 
in a room down the hallway. 

Across the Connecticut River, which skirts the town 
of Northfield, is the town of Hanover, the seat of 
old Dartmouth College. From time immemorial the 
greatest rivalry had existed between the two institu- 
tions, and in the years that preceded the civil war 
this feeling had almost grown into a feud, and for a 
member of either institution to cross the river was 
to enter the enemy's country, with all the attendant 
risk. Only three or four evenings previously Dewey 
and one of the other cadets had boldly crossed the 
bridge and appeared in the Hanover streets in broad 
daylight. It had not taken long for the news to reach 
the ears of a few of the Dartmouth sophomores, who 
were spoiling for a row, and soon Dewey and his 



EDUCATION AT NORWICH. 37 

companions had found out that they were followed. 
But it was not until they had reached the entrance 
to the bridge that there was any sign of trouble. 
There, sure enough, they saw four of the Dartmouth 
belligerents waiting for them. An old farmer, crossing 
the bridge from Hanover to Northfield, was driving 
a pair of rather skittish horses that were prancing as 
they heard the rattling of the boards beneath their 
feet. It was almost time for the evening assembly, 
and if the boys were to be prompt they must not be 
stopped, although such, it was plain, was the intention 
of the Dartmouth boys who were awaiting them. 
They asked the farmer if he would give them a ride, 
and he dechned; but they had jumped into the wagon, 
and, when near the spot where their four enemies had 
lined across the causeway, one of the cadets leaned 
forward and, picking up the whip, struck the two 
horses across their backs. This was all they needed; 
the Dartmouth boys had barely time to jump aside 
when the team went tearing by. But it was easier 
to get the young horses going than to stop them. 
The rattling of the bridge frightened them more and 
more, and the people on the streets of Northfield were 
surprised to see a runaway come roaring into town 
with an old man and two hatless cadets hauling at 
the reins without result. It was fortunate that no 
harm was done, and the horses were stopped halfway 



38 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

up the hill that leads to the University; but the 
president had seen and recognized the two uniformed 
figures, and that was one reason why Doc. Dewey 
was walking about the old elm on this fine spring 
day. 

The evening before, one of the cadets had re- 
turned from a nocturnal excursion across the river 
with his coat torn and a story of being badly treated. 
Revenge was being planned, and the plotters had 
chosen Dewey as their leader for the coming expedi- 
tion that was meant to teach the Dartmouth fellows 
a lesson. This expedition resulted in a lively en- 
counter, in which, though outnumbered, the Norwich 
boys are said to have been victorious. In the tradi- 
tions of the school it is known as the Battle of the 
Torn Coats. 

In Dewey's last year at Norwich the faculty pro- 
cured two fine six-pounder howitzers, with limbers, 
to replace the old iron guns at which the cadets had 
been exercised. When they arrived, the cadets took 
down the old guns and brought up the new ones from 
the railway station. As boys naturally would, they 
divided into two parties and made a frolic of the 
occasion. It was tedious work getting the guns out 
of the car, but as soon as they were out and limbered 
up the fun began. One of the cadets has told the 
story very prettily in his diary. 



EDUCATION AT NORWICH. 39 

" Ainsworth and Munson chose squads to draw 
them to the parade. I chanced to be in Ainsworth's 
squad. Ainsworth's squad wanted to lead, but as 
Munson's squad had the road ahead and we were at 
the side and in sandy gutters, it was doubtful how 
we were to do it. They started off with a fine spurt, 
getting a big lead. Going up the hill where the road 
was broader we steadily gained until only the length of 
the trail in the rear; then we gathered and started on 
a run, passing and keeping the lead, with cheers and 
great glee. Climbing the hill, we proceeded more 
slowly, Munson quietly in the rear, on our way round 
the North Barracks and then through the usual gate- 
way to position. As we entered the village near the 
southeast corner of the parade, we noticed Munson's 
squad, apparently under the lead of Dewey, making 
for a short cut across the grounds, first breaking down 
the fence for passage. Now our efforts were re- 
doubled, and the boys of the other squad declare that 
they never saw fellows run as we ran, or expect to 
see a gun jump as that six-pounder bounded along 
the main street and around the corner. But we 
led; round the North Barracks at double quick went 
gun and gun squad, entered the barrack yard and 
placed the gun in position before the west front 
of the South Barracks, giving three cheers for No. i 
to the chagrin of No. 2, just approaching position. 



40 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

It was a great race and pleased the faculty exceed- 
ingly." 

This was only one of many episodes that prevented 
life at Norwich from being dull for the boys, and 
sweetened their memories in after time, though not 
assisting directly in any useful branch of education. 



CHAPTER V. 

LIFE AT ANNAPOLIS. 

When Dr. Dewey had consented to his son's wishes 
for a naval education, the next step was to secure 
his appointment to a cadetship at the Academy at 
Annapolis. Each member of Congress has the privi- 
lege of appointing a candidate when there is no cadet 
from his district in the Academy; and the President 
has ten appointments at large, besides one for the 
District of Columbia. The giving of these appoint- 
ments after a competitive examination was not so 
common forty years ago as it is now. They were 
almost invariably bestowed arbitrarily, according to 
the Congressman's personal relations with those who 
sought them or his idea of his own political interests. 
But it was of little use to appoint a boy who could 
not pass the mental and physical entrance examina- 
tions. George Dewey obtained an appointment, but 
only as alternate. The first place was given to a 
schoolmate two years older than he, George B. Spal- 
ding. For some reason Spalding, though a bright boy, 

failed to pass, while the alternate answered the re- 

41 



42 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

quirements and was admitted to the Academy. Mr. 
Spalding was graduated two years later at the Uni- 
versity of Vermont, studied theology at Andover, and 
has had a creditable career as a clergyman and legis- 
lator. It is said that only about forty per cent of the 
appointees are able to pass the entrance examinations, 
and of those who are admitted, only about half finish 
the course. 

Dewey entered the Academy September 23, 1854, 
being then in his seventeenth year. He was born 
December 26, 1837. The number of cadets was then 
one hundred and sixty, the curriculum had been re- 
cently remodeled for a four-years' course, and the 
first class under the new regulation was graduated that 
year. Captain Louis M. Goldsborough (afterward 
rear admiral) was the superintendent. 

The classes are designated by numbers, the lowest 
(corresponding to freshmen in a college) being called 
the fourth. The cadets (or midshipmen, as they w^ere 
then called; that term is no longer in use) were under 
the immediate charge of an officer called the Com- 
mandant of Midshipmen. He ranked next to the 
superintendent, and was the executive officer of the 
institution and the instructor in seamanship, gunnery, 
and naval tactics. He had three assistants. There 
were eight professorships — Mathematics; Astronomy, 
Navigation and Surveying; Natural and Experimental 



LIFE AT ANNAPOLIS. 43 

Philosophy; Field Artillery and Infantry Tactics; Ethics 
and Enghsh Studies; French; Spanish; and Drawinj^. 
The examinations of all the classes were held in 
February and June. A very strict record was kept 
of the conduct of every student; and after the June 
examination those in the second class who had not 
received more than a hundred and fifty demerit marks 
during the year were furloughed till October, while 
the others were at once embarked for the annual prac- 
tice cruise. This appears like a great number of de- 
merit marks for even the worst student to receive, 
but some ofifenses were punished with more than one 
mark. Thus, for neglect of orders or overstaying leave 
of absence the penalty was ten marks; for having a 
light in one's room after taps, eight; for absence from 
parade or roll call, six; for slovenly dress, four, etc. 
Any cadet who received more than two hundred de- 
merits in a year was dropped from the rolls; and it 
was optional with the superintendent to dismiss a 
cadet from the service for being intoxicated or having 
liquor in his possession; for going beyond the limits 
of the institution without permission; for giving, car- 
rying, or accepting a challenge; for playing at cards 
or any game of chance in the Academy; for offering 
violence or insult to a person on public duty; for 
publishing anything relating to the Academy; or for 
any conduct unbecoming a gentleman. 



44 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



The daily routine of the Academy is of interest as 
showing to what discipHne the cadets were subjected, 
and what habits of promptness, regularity, and ac- 
curacy were cultivated. Marshall's History of the 
Academy shows us what it was at that time, and it 
is still practically the same. 

The morning gun-fire and reveille with the beating 
of the drum was at 6.15 a. m., or at 6.30, according to 
the season. Then came the poHce of quarters and in- 
spection of rooms. The roll call was at 6.45 or at 
7.15, according to the season. From December ist 
to March ist the later hour was the one observed. 
Chapel service followed, and afterward breakfast at 7 
or at 7.30. The sick call was thirty minutes after 
breakfast. Then the cadets had recreation till 8 
o'clock, when the study and recitation hours began. 

Section formations took place in the front hall of 
the third floor, under the supervision of the of^cer of 
the day, who, as well as the section leaders, was 
responsible for preservation of silence and order. When 
the signal was given by the bugle, the sections were 
marched to their recitation rooms. They marched in 
close order, in silence, and with strict observance of 
military decorum. Whenever a section left its recita- 
tion room it was marched by its leader to the third 
floor, and there dismissed. 

Study alternated or intervened with recitations 



LIFE AT ANNAPOLIS. 45 

until one o'clock, when the signal for dinner was given. 
The cadets were again formed in order by the captains 
of crews, and marched into the mess hall. The or- 
ganization was into ten guns' crews, for instruction in 
seamanship and gunnery, and for discipline. The cap- 
tains of crews, when at the mess table, repressed 
promptly all disorderly conduct, unbecoming language, 
and unnecessary noise. They enforced perfect silence 
among their guns' crews until the order " Seats! " had 
been given. Then conversatipn was permitted. Si- 
lence was enforced again after the order " Rise! " until 
the crews reached the main hall. At all times, in mus- 
tering their crews, the captains were required to call 
the names in the lowest tone that would secure at- 
tention. They were required to report any irregular- 
ity in uniform or untidiness which they perceived at 
any formation, as well as any infraction of regulations, 
disregard of orders, or other impropriety. 

The Professor of Field Artillery and Infantry Tac-^ 
tics was inspector of the mess hall, and presided at 
the mess table. He had charge of the police and order 
of the mess hall, in which duty he was assisted by 
the officer of the day and the captains of crews. Each 
student had a seat assigned to him at table, which 
he could not change without the sanction of the in- 
spector of the mess hall; and no student must appear 
at meals negligently dressed. 



46 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



Thirty minutes were allowed for breakfast, and the 
same time for supper. Forty minutes were allowed for 
dinner. 

After dinner the young gentlemen had recreation 
again until two o'clock, when the afternoon study and 
recitation hours began. These continued until four 
o'clock, followed by instruction in the art of defense, 
infantry or artillery drill, and recreation until parade 
and roll call at sunset. Supper followed immediately; 
then recreation and call to evening studies at 6.25 or 
.6.55, according to the season. Study hours continued 
until tattoo at half past nine, which w^as a signal for 
extinguishing lights and inspection of rooms. After 
" taps " at ten o'clock no lights were allowed in any 
part of the students' quarters, except by authority of 
the superintendent. 

On the school-ship attached to the Academy there 
was another set of rules and regulations, concerning 
duty, conduct, and etiquette, so minute and exacting 
that one would think it was a liberal education merely 
to learn them all, to say nothing of obeying them daily 
and hourly. Here are the greater part of them: 

At reveille the midshipmen will immediately turn 
out, arrange their bedding, and taking the lashing 
from the head clews of their hammocks, where it was 
neatly coiled the night before, will lash up their ham- 
mocks, taking seven taut turns at equal distances, and 



LIFE AT ANNAPOLIS. 47 

tucking in their clews neatly. They will then place 
their hammocks under their right arms, and first cap- 
tains will give the order, " Stand by your hammocks, 
No. — forward, march! " at which order they will pro- 
ceed in line, by their allotted ladders, to their allotted 
places in their respective nettings; when there, they 
will in order deliver their hammocks to those ap- 
pointed to receive them. Each first captain delivering 
his hammock and falling back, will face the line of 
his gun's crew, and see that proper order is main- 
tained; each midshipman, after delivering his ham- 
mock, will fall back, facing outboard, forming line from 
first captain aft. When all are stowed, the first cap- 
tains, each at the head of his crew, will face them in 
the direction of their ladder, and march them to the 
wash room — odd-numbered crews on starboard, even 
numbers on port side of the wash room. Towels will 
be marked and kept in their places, over each respec- 
tive basin. No one will leave the wash room until 
marched out; three guns' crews will wash at the same 
time, and each week the numbers will be changed. 
When ready, the first captains will march their crews 
to their places on the berth deck, where they will dis- 
miss them. 

Guns' crews Nos. i and 2 stow hammocks in for- 
ward netting — No. 2 on port, and No. i on starboard 
side; Nos. 3, 5, and 7 in starboard, and Nos. 4, 6, 



48 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

and 8 in port quarter-deck nettings, lowest numbers 
of each crew stowing forward. 

Nos. I and 2 guns' crews leave berth deck by fore- 
hatch ladders, Nos. 3 and 4 by main-hatch ladders, 
Nos. 5 and 6 by after-hatch ladders, and Nos. 7 and 
8 by steerage ladders, each on their respective sides, 
and each march to their allotted places on spar deck. 

Twelve minutes from the close of reveille (which 
will be shown by three taps on the drum) are allowed 
for lashing hammocks and to leave the berth deck. 

The guns' crews will form in two ranks, at their 
respective places on gun deck: Nos. i, 3, 5, and 7 
on port side, and Nos. 2, 4, 6, and 8 on starboard 
side; first and second captains on the right of their 
crews, officer in charge, and adjutant forward of main- 
mast. Officer of the day and superintendents forward 
of main hatch, fronting officer in charge; when formed 
they will be faced to the front, and dressed by first 
captains by the orders, " Front; right dress." The 
adjutant then gives the order, " Muster your crews! " 
when each first captain, taking one step to the front, 
faces the line of his crew, second captain stepping for- 
ward into his interval; first captain then calls the roll 
from memory, noting absentees; when finished, faces 
toward his place, second captain takes backward step 
to his former position, and first captain faces about to 
his place in the front rank; the adjutant then gives the 



LIFE AT ANNAPOLIS. 49 



order, " First captains front and center! " First cap- 
tains take one full step to the front, and face the 
adjutant's position, second captains filling intervals as 
before; the adjutant then gives the order, "March!" 
at which captains march in direction of the adjutant, 
forming in line abreast of him. The adjutant then 
gives the order, " Front! report! " The captains report 
all present, thus: "All present, No. i!" or, if any are 

absent, thus: " absent. No. i!" First captain of 

No. I will begin in a short, sharp, and intelligible 
tone, making the salute when he has finished, which 
will be the signal for first captain of No. 2 to report, 
and so on to the last. The adjutant then gives the 
order, "Posts! march!" the first captains facing, at 
the order "posts!" in the direction of their crews, 
advance at the word "march!" to their places in the 
ranks. The adjutant then reports to the ofificer in 
charge, and receives his instructions; if there be any 
orders he publishes them; he then gives the order, 
" Two files from the right, two paces to the front, 
march!" when the two files from the right of each 
rank step two paces to the front, and the adjutant 
gives the order, "Battalion right dress!" The bat- 
talion dresses on the two files, and the adjutant gives 
the order, " Battalion to the rear, open order, march! " 
when the rear rank will take two steps to the rear, 
halt, and be dressed by the second captain. 



50 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

The officer in charge, with the adjutant, will pro- 
ceed to inspect the battalion. The adjutant will then 
give the order, " Rear rank, close order, march! " when 
the rear rank will take two steps forward. The adju- 
tant then gives the order, " Officer of the day and 
superintendents, relieve!" at which the officer of the 
day and superintendents of the day previous will face 
about, and pass the orders to their reliefs, the officer 
of the day delivering his side arms; they will then take 
position in their respective crews. 

When the officer of the day and superintendents 
of the day previous have taken their places in their 
crews, the adjutant gives the order, " March to break- 
fast! " the first captains will direct their crews by their 
respective ladders to their respective mess tables. 
On arriving at the mess tables, each first captain will 
take position in rear of his camp stool, at the after 
end of the table, second captain taking the forward 
end, and the crew taking position corresponding to 
their places in the ranks; all will remain standing in 
rear of their respective camp stools until the officer 
in charge gives the order, " Seats! " at which word 
the midshipmen will place their caps under their camp 
stools, and quietly take their seats. As the midship- 
men at each tal)le shall have finished the meal, the 
first captain will rise and look at the adjutant, who 
will acknowledge the report by raising his right hand; 



LIFE AT ANNAPOLIS. 51 

the first captain will then resume his seat; when all 
shall have reported, the adjutant will make it known 
to the officer in charge, who, rising from his seat, will 
tap on the table and give the order, " Rise! " at which 
order each midshipman will rise, put on his cap, step 
to the rear of his camp stool, putting it in place, and 
facing aft; at the order " March!" from the adjutant, 
first captains will advance, follow^ed by their crews in 
their proper order, and proceed to their parade stations 
on the gun deck, where they will form and dress their 
command, and bring them to parade rest in order for 
prayers. All will take off their caps at the opening 
of prayers, and put them on at the order '' Attention! " 
at the close of prayers, from the adjutant, who gives 
the order " Battahon, attention! right face, break 
ranks, march! " 

The hours for recitation and study were the same 
on board the training ship as in quarters — from about 
eight o'clock in the morning to one o'clock, and from 
about two o'clock in the afternoon to four o'clock. The 
guns' crews were then assembled for exercise at the 
great guns for an hour or more, or perhaps in in- 
fantry drill, or in practical seamanship, including ex- 
ercises with boats, the lead, log, etc. Evening parade 
intervened, and after supper the fourth class were 
called to their studies again. At tattoo, half past nine 
in the evening, the midshipmen were required to ar- 



52 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



range their books and papers neatly, place their chairs 
under their desks, and at gun-fire form by crews, 
when the officer in charge inspected the study tables. 
At " taps " all must turn in, and all noise must cease 
at four bells. 

The rules of etiquette were very minute. Here 
are some of them: 

The midshipmen will not use the steerage ladders, 
the after ladder from the gun deck, the starboard poop 
ladder, the starboard side of the poop, quarter-deck, 
or gangway abaft No. 2 recitation room; they are par- 
ticularly enjoined to keep the starboard gangway clear. 
The etiquette of the quarter-deck will be strictly ob- 
served. Officers on coming up the quarter-deck lad- 
ders will make the salute. No running, skylarking, 
boisterous conduct, or loud talking will be permitted 
on the quarter-deck or poop. The midshipmen will 
never appear on the gun deck or quarter-deck without 
their caps, jackets, and cravats. They will, in ascend- 
ing and descending the ladders, avoid the heavy step 
upon them which is made by shore people; when ab- 
sent in boats they will yield implicit and prompt obedi- 
ence to their captains, or those placed in charge. It 
is particularly forbidden to get out of or into the ship 
through the ports, or to sit on the rail of the ship. No 
one is permitted to go out on the head-booms during 
study hours, or to go aloft, without authorized per- 



LIFE AT ANNAPOLIS. 53 

mission. No one is permitted to go or come from 
the berth deck during study hours by any other than 
the main-hatch ladders. The midshipmen are forbid- 
den to sit upon the study tables. 

A young man who could go through with four 
years of such discipline as this, and at the same time 
keep up such proficiency in his studies as to pass 
the examinations, might well be supposed to be thor- 
oughly fitted for the duties of life. George Dewey 
went through with it, and on graduation, in 1858, 
stood fifth in a class of fourteen. His classmate, 
Captain Henry L. Howison, says of him: " In his 
studies Dewey was exceedingly bright. At gradua- 
tion he was No. 5 in our class and I was No. 4, 
but after the rearrangement at the end of our final 
cruise he was No. 4 and I was No. 5. He was a 
born fighter. He was just as much of a fighter in a 
small way when he was a boy as he has been in a 
large way as a man. His days at the Naval Academy 
proved this. He is quick at the trigger and has a 
strong temper, but he has excellent control over it. 
When a cadet he would always fight, and fight hard 
if necessary, but he was never known to be in a brawl. 
I do not want to convey the idea that he ever wanted 
to get into a row, because he didn't. He would go 
a long way to get out of fighting if the affair was 
none of his business. He was sure to be on the right 



54 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

side of every fight, but the fight had to come to him. 
He did not seek it. If he saw a quarrel on the street 
and he thought it the part of a gentleman to help 
one or the other of the contestants, he would not 
hesitate a moment about pitching in. He would go 
miles to help a friend who was in trouble. He was 
fond of animals, and especially fond of horses. Ever 
since I have known him he has gone horseback rid- 
ing whenever he had a chance, and has owned several 
fine animals. At the Academy he would ride when- 
ever he could get anything to ride. He had a fine 
horse when we lived in Washington. I recall that 
Dewey as a lad was very fond of music, and, indeed, 
quite a musician himself. He had a really good bari- 
tone voice, nearly a tenor, and he used it well and 
frequently, too. He also played the guitar well. He 
was no soloist, but could play accompaniments all 
right." 

When Dewey was in the Academy there was a spe- 
cial source of misunderstanding, ill feeling, and quar- 
rels in the heated condition of politics and sectional 
jealousy; and then, as ever, it was customary for the 
boys to settle their differences with their natural 
means of ofTense and defense. Dewey did not escape 
the peculiar peril of those days. There is a story to 
the effect that the leader of the Southern party among 
the cadets made an occasion to give George an un- 



LIFE AT ANNAPOLIS. 55 

mistakable statement of his opinion of Yankees in 
general and George in particular, whereupon he pres- 
ently found himself provided with a black eye. Then 
came a challenge to mortal combat, which George 
promptly accepted. Seconds were chosen, and a meet- 
ing would undoubtedly have taken place had not some 
of the students informed the faculty, who put a stop 
to the scheme and made the boys give their word of 
honor to keep the peace. 

George participated in the annual practice cruises 
with his classmates, and after graduation they were 
sent on a two-years' cruise in European waters in the 
steam frigate Wabash, commanded by Captain Samuel 
Barron. The ship attracted a great deal of attention 
in every port she visited. Steam had been only re- 
cently adopted for naval vessels, and the Americans 
had constructed a type of steam frigate that was 
superior to anything in the other navies of the world. 
While the Wabash lay at Malta a fine steam yacht 
came in from the sea and anchored near her. It was 
said that she was the property of a distinguished noble- 
man, and was one of the few first-class steam yachts 
then in existence. She excited a great deal of curiosity 
among the ofificers of the Wabash. A few days later 
Captain Barron gave out a general invitation, and 
many visitors from the garrison and from British men- 
of-war in the harbor came to inspect the new war ship 
5 



56 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



from the West. Dewey and the other midshipmen were 
on hand to assist in doing the honors, and when a 
kindly-looking gentleman with a small party came up 
the gangway and saluted the quarter-deck with a 
nautical air, George returned the salute and asked if 
he could be of any service. The gentleman said he 
would like to see whatever was to be seen, and the 
self-possessed young midshipman proceeded to show 
him and his party over the vessel. When they had 
nearly completed the rounds, Dewey ventured to offer 
his card by way of introduction. The gentleman took 
out his own card and gave it in return, and Dewey, 
as he glanced at it, read one of the highest names 
in the British peerage. " Yes," said the gentleman, 
" that is my little teakettle anchored under your quar- 
ter. I fear she'll seem rather cramped after we go 
aboard of her from this." Dewey's conscience now 
began to trouble him, and he insisted on taking the 
party to his commanding ofificer, though, as he an- 
ticipated, from that moment his own existence was 
ignored. 

While nothing strictly historical took place in con- 
nection with this cruise, there were many pleasant inci- 
dents and some that made strong impressions on the 
young midshipmen in regard to duty and discipline. 
Several Italian ports were visited, princes and ambas- 
sadors were received on board, and courtesies were 



LIFE AT ANNAPOLIS. 57 

exchanged with the war vessels of several nations. The 
Fourth of July and Washington's Birthday were duly 
observed, and on the former occasion one of the 
officers read the Declaration of Independence to the 
ship's company assembled on deck. At Leghorn the 
Wabash ran aground, and a British merchant steamer 
assisted in getting her ofT. At Genoa some of the petty 
officers and seamen got into a street fight, in which 
a man was killed; and the captain sent them all ashore 
next day for the civil authorities to identify the par- 
ticipants. At Spezia, Dewey records in his journal, 
" five hundred and fifty gallons of beans were surveyed, 
condemned, and thrown overboard," furnished prob- 
ably by contract. This is in striking contrast with 
what afterward he w^as able to say concerning the sup- 
plies of the fieet at Manila. On November 13, 1859, 
they sailed for home, and on December i6th arrived 
at the port of New York. A little later Midshipman 
Dewey was examined at Annapolis for a commission, 
and he not only passed the examination, but was ad- 
vanced in his relative standing. He then received leave 
of absence to visit his home. He was commissioned 
lieutenant April 19, 1861, and was ordered to the 
steam sloop Mississippi. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE BEGINNING OF WAR. 

The United States navy had done little to distin- 
guish itself since its wonderful achievements in the 
War of 1 812 with Great Britain. During the Mexican 
War it took part in the occupation of CaHfornia, and 
performed what service it could in the Gulf, but there 
was no opportunity for anything remarkable. Wilkes 
had made his exploring expedition in Pacific and Ant- 
arctic waters; Ingraham, in the St. Louis, had de- 
manded and secured the release of Martin Koszta at 
Smyrna; Tatnall, with his famous " blood is thicker 
than water," had participated in the bombardment of 
the Chinese forts at Peiho; Hudson, in the Niagara, 
had assisted in laying the first Atlantic cable; and sev- 
eral cruisers had pursued pirates in the West Indies. But 
with the exception of these occurrences the navy had 
done nothing to attract popular attention for more 
than forty years. Yet it had quietly accomplished 
much good work on the Coast Survey; and the Naval 
Academy at Annapolis, from its establishment in 1845, 

educated ofBcers who gave character and efificiency to 

58 



THE BEGINNING OF WAR. 59 

the service, and when the day of battle came showed 
themselves to be worthy successors of the famous cap- 
tains who had preceded them. 

A great crisis in the nation's history was now ap- 
proaching, more rapidly than any one suspected. The 
older statesmen were gone. Adams, Jackson, Clay, 
Calhoun, and Webster, all had passed away within a 
period of seven years. Their successors were men of 
different mold, and the problem that had given them the 
most serious trouble, while comparatively small in their 
day, had now grown to monstrous proportions. The 
dififiiculty arose from the existence of two exactly op- 
posite systems of labor in the two parts of the coun- 
try. In the Southern States the laborers w^re of a 
dififerent race from the capitalists and ruling class, and 
were slaves; in the Northern States all (except a very 
small proportion) were of the white race and all were 
free. The dififerent ideas and interests that arose from 
these two dififerent states of society had constantly 
tended to alienate the people of one section from those 
of the other, and the frequent clashing of these in- 
terests in the halls of legislation had obscured the fact 
that in a much larger view, and for permanent reasons, 
the interests and destiny of the whole country were 
the same. In the summer when young Dewey was 
graduated at the Naval Academy, Abraham Lincoln, 
then in the midst of a heated canvass on this question^ 



6o THE HERO OF MANILA. 

said in a speech that became famous: "I believe this 
Government can not endure permanently half slave 
and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dis- 
solved, I do not expect the house to fall, but I do 
expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all 
one thing, or all the other." Most of the Southern 
statesmen, and a few of those at the North, looked 
to a division of the country as the best, if not the 
inevitable, solution of the problem. But against this 
there was a barrier greater and more permanent than 
any wording of constitution or laws enacted in the 
last century by a generation that had passed away. 
This was the geography of our country. Mr. Lincoln 
did not distinctly name it as the reason for his faith 
in the perpetuity of the Union, but he probably felt 
it. History shows unmistakably that the permanent 
boundaries of a country are the geographical ones. 
Conquest or diplomacy occasionally establishes others, 
but they do not endure. Separate tribes or peoples, 
if living within the same geographical boundaries, ulti- 
mately come together and form one nation. Had our 
country been crossed from east to west by a great 
river like the Amazon, or a chain of lakes like those 
that separate us from Canada, or a high mountain 
range, the northern and southern sections might never 
have come together, or would have been easily sepa- 
rated into two distinct peoples. But with no such 



THE BEGINNING OF WAR. 6i 

natural line of division, and with the Mississippi run- 
ning south through the center of the country, and 
with railroads, telegraphs, and other rapidly multi- 
plying means of communication tying the sec- 
tions together, the perpetuity of the Union was 
a foregone conclusion, whatever might be the argu- 
ments of the politician or the passions of the 
people. 

Nevertheless, the struggle had to come, whether 
this great consideration was realized or not, and come 
it did. The Southern statesmen were in earnest in 
their threat of disunion, and when Abraham Lincoln 
was elected to the presidency in i860 they proceeded 
to carry it out. South Carolina passed an ordinance 
of secession in December, and most of the other 
Southern States followed quickly, and the new gov- 
ernment, called the Confederate States of America, 
was organized at Montgomery, Alabama, in February, 
1 861. They proceeded to take possession of the United 
States forts, arsenals, and navy yards within their ter- 
ritory, and soon had them all without firing a gun, 
except those at Pensacola and Fort Sumter in Charles- 
ton harbor. The Confederate forces erected several 
batteries within reach of Sumter, and on April 12th 
opened fire on the fort and compelled its surrender. 
This was the actual beginning of hostilities, and within 
twenty-four hours the whole country, North and 



62 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

South, was ablaze with the war spirit. The President 
called for volunteers to suppress the rebellion and re- 
store the national authority, and was offered several 
times as many as he asked for. The South was 
already in arms. Many of the military and naval 
officers who were from the South went with their 
States, and young men who had been educated to- 
gether at West Point or Annapolis were now to take 
part on opposite sides in one of the greatest 
conflicts the world has ever seen. In some in- 
stances brother was against brother, and father 
against son. 

Gideon Welles, of Connecticut, was Secretary of 
the Navy in President Lincoln's cabinet. Though 
some of the naval officers resigned their commissions 
and offered their services to the Confederacy, the ves- 
sels of the navy, except a very few that were cap- 
tured at Norfolk navy yard, remained in the possession 
of the National Government. There was need of all 
these and more, for a mighty task was about to be 
undertaken, and there were large bodies of troops to 
be transported by sea, cities to be captured, fortifica- 
tions to be bombarded, and ports to be held under 
blockade. This last was a most important duty, 
though little idea of glory was connected with it, and 
popular reputations could not be made in it; for the 
Southern States had very few manufactures, and for 



THE BEGINNING OF WAR. 63 

arms, ammunition, and other necessaries they de- 
pended mainly on importation. 

At this time the United States navy was under- 
going transformation. In the more important vessels 
steam had been substituted for sail power, but they 
were still constructed of wood, and the development 
of the ironclad was just beginning. In the emergency 
the Government bought a large number of merchant 
vessels of various kinds, including some ferryboats, 
turning them into gunboats and transports, and 
began the construction of ironclads. Many ironclads 
of light draught for use on the western rivers 
were built in a hundred days. The Southerners were 
almost without facilities for building vessels from 
the keel, but they made two or three formidable 
rams and floating batteries by covering the wooden 
hulls of some of the captured ships with railroad 
iron. 

The first naval expedition of the war sailed in 
August, 1861, commanded by Flag-Officer Silas H. 
Stringham. It consisted of ten vessels, including two 
transports, carried about nine hundred soldiers, and 
was directed against the forts that guarded Hatteras 
Inlet, North CaroHna. The troops, with some diffi- 
culty, were landed through the surf, and a combined 
attack by them and the naval force reduced the de- 
fenses and compelled their surrender with about seven 



64 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

hundred prisoners. The garrisons had lost about fifty 
men, the assailants not one. This was due to the fact 
that the work was done chiefly by rifled guns on the 
vessels, which could be fired effectively while out of 
range of the smooth-bore guns of the forts. 

Late in October another expedition, commanded 
by Flag-Officer Samuel F. Du Pont, sailed from 
Hampton Roads. It consisted of more than fifty ves- 
sels, and carried twenty-two thousand men. A ter- 
rific gale was encountered, one transport and one 
storeship were lost, and one gunboat had to throw 
its battery overboard. When the storm was over, only 
one vessel was in sight from the flagship. But the 
scattered fleet slowly came together again and pro- 
ceeded to its destination — the entrance to Port Royal 
harbor, South Carolina. This was guarded by two 
forts. The attack was made on the morning of No- 
vember 7th. The main column, of ten vessels, led by 
the flagship, was formed in line a ship's-length apart, 
and steamed past the larger fort, delivering its fire at 
a distance of eight hundred yards, and then turned 
and sailed past again, somewhat closer. In this man- 
ner it steamed three times round a long ellipse, de- 
livering its fire alternately from the two broadsides. 
Some of the gunboats got positions from which they 
enfiladed the work, and two of the larger vessels went 
up closer and poured in a fire that dismounted several 



THE BEGINNING OF WAR. 65 

guns. This was more than the garrison could endure, 
and they evacuated the fort and were seen streaming 
out of it as if in panic. The other cohimn, of four 
vessels, attacked the smaller fort in the same manner, 
with the same result. 

Meanwhile, a much larger and more important 
naval expedition than either of these was planned at 
Washington. New Orleans was the largest and rich- 
est city in the Confederacy. It had nearly one hun- 
dred and seventy thousand inhabitants — more than 
Charleston, Mobile, and Richmond together. In the 
year before the war it had shipped twenty-five mil- 
hon dollars' worth of sugar and ninety-two miUion 
dollars' worth of cotton. In these two articles its ex- 
port trade was larger than that of any other city in 
the world. And as a strategic point it was of the 
first importance. The Mississippi has several mouths, 
or passes, and this fact, with the frequency of violent 
gales in the Gulf, made it very difficult to blockade 
commerce there. Moreover, if possession of the Mis- 
sissippi could be secured by the national forces it 
would cut the Confederacy in two and render it dif- 
ficult if not impossible to continue the transporta- 
tion of supplies from Arkansas and Texas to feed the 
armies in Virginia and Tennessee. Add to this the 
fact that any great city is a great prize in war, highly 
valuable to the belligerent that holds it, and the im- 



66 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

portance of New Orleans at that time may be readily 
appreciated. 

The defenses of the city consisted of two forts — 
Jackson and St. Philip — on either bank of the stream, 
thirty miles above the head of the passes and about 
twice that distance below New Orleans. They were 
below a bend which had received the name of English 
Turn, from the circumstance that in 1814 the British 
naval vessels attempting to ascend the stream had 
here been driven back by land batteries. The forts 
were built by the United States Government, of earth 
and brick, in the style that was common before the 
introduction of rifled cannon. They were now gar- 
risoned by fifteen hundred Confederate soldiers, and 
above them lay a Confederate fleet of fifteen vessels, 
including an ironclad ram and an incomplete floating 
battery that was cased in railroad iron. Below the 
forts a heavy chain was stretched across the river, 
supported on logs; and when it was broken by a 
freshet the logs were replaced by hulks anchored at 
intervals across the stream, with the chain passing over 
their decks and its ends fastened to trees on the banks. 
A similar chain was stretched across the Hudson at 
the time of the Revolutionary War. In addition to 
all this, two hundred Confederate sharpshooters con- 
stantly patrolled the banks between the forts and the 
head of the passes, to give notice of any approach- 



THE BEGINNING OF WAR. 67 

ing foe, and fire at any one that might be seen on 
the deck of a hostile vessel. The Confederate au- 
thorities fully appreciated the value of the Crescent 
City. The problem before the national authorities 
was, how to take that city in spite of all these barriers. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE FIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS. 

Military scholarship is a good thing; military 
genius is sometimes a better thing. When it was re- 
solved by the authorities to attempt the capture of New 
Orleans it was assumed that the two forts on the 
river below the city must be first destroyed or com- 
pelled to surrender. The chief engineer of the Army 
of the Potomac, whose ability was unquestioned, made 
a long report to the Navy Department, in which, 
after describing the forts and their situation, he said: 
" To pass these works merely with a fleet and appear 
before New Orleans is merely a raid, no capture." 
And in describing the exact method of attack he said: 
" Those [vessels] on the Fort Jackson side would 
probably have to make fast to the shore; those on 
the Saint Philip side might anchor." Substantially the 
same view was afterward taken by Captain David D. 
Porter, who was to have an important part in the en- 
terprise. It was also assumed that the forts could be 
reduced by bombardment, if this was only heavy and 

persistent enough. In accordance with this idea, 
68 




Farragut and Dewey. 



THE FIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS. 69 

twenty-one large mortars were cast for the work. 
They threw shells that were thirteen inches in diam- 
eter and weighed two hundred and eighty-five pounds. 
For each of these mortars a schooner was built; and 
so great was the concussion of the atmosphere when 
one was fired, that no man could stand near it with- 
out being literally deafened. Therefore platforms 
projecting beyond the decks were provided, to which 
the gunners could retreat just before each shot. The 
remainder of the fleet, when finally it was mustered, 
was made up of six sloops of war, sixteen gunboats, 
five other vessels, and transports carrying fifteen thou- 
sand soldiers to co-operate in the attack or hold the 
forts and the city after it should be captured. The 
number of guns in the fleet was more than two 
hundred. 

After this expedition (the most powerful that ever 
had sailed under the American flag) was planned and 
partly organized, and the mortar schooners nearly 
completed, the Navy Department looked about for a 
suitable officer to command it, and Secretary Welles 
finally chose Captain David G. Farragut. This officer 
had his own ideas of the best way to effect the capture. 
He would have preferred to dispense with the mor- 
tars, in which he had no faith; but they had been 
prepared at great expense, and that part of the fleet 
was to be commanded by his friend Porter, and so 



70 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



he accepted them, and as soon as it could be got 
ready the expedition sailed from Hampton Roads. 

When it arrived at the mouths of the Mississippi 
there was a gigantic task to be performed before the 
fleet could enter the stream. An American poet has 
thus described the delta of the great river: 

" Do you know of the dreary land, 

If land such region may seem, 
Where 'tis neither sea nor strand, 
Ocean nor good dry land, 

But the nightmare marsh of a dream — 
Where the mighty river his death-road takes. 
Mid pools and windings that coil like snakes — 
A hundred leagues of bayous and lakes — 

To die in the great Gulf Stream ? " 

There are five mouths or passes, spread out like 
the fingers of a hand. Of course no one of them was 
as large and deep as the river above, and the entrance 
of each was obstructed by a bar. The smaller vessels 
— mortar schooners and gunboats — were taken in 
without difficulty, but the larger ones required enor- 
mous labor to get them over the bar. The Missis- 
sippi — of which Captain Melancton Smith was the 
commander, and Lieutenant George Dewey the ex- 
ecutive officer — was lightened of everything that could 
be taken off, and even then had to be dragged over 
by tugboats, with her keel a foot deep in the mud. 
She was the only side-wheel war vessel in the fleet. 



THE FIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS. 71 

It required two weeks' labor to get the Pensacola in; 
and the Colorado could not be taken in at all, as 
she drew seven feet more of water than there was on 
the bar. 

The masts of the mortar schooners were dressed 
off with bushes so that they could not be distinguished 
easily from the trees along the shore; and as soon as 
they were moored in their chosen position the bombard- 
ment was begun. The forts could not be seen from 
them, and the gunners fired with a computed aim, 
throwing the immense shells high into the air, that 
they might fall almost perpendicularly into the forts 
and explode. The bombardment was kept up steadily 
for six days and nights, nearly six thousand shells be- 
ing thrown. They fell in and around the fortifica- 
tions, destroyed buildings, cut the levee, and killed 
fourteen men and wounded thirty-nine. It is said 
that in modern warfare a man's weight in lead is fired 
for every man that is killed; in this instance about 
sixteen tons of iron were thrown for every man that 
was injured. The main object, however, was not to 
disable the garrisons, but to dismount the guns and 
render the fortifications useless; and this result was 
not accomplished. The forts and their armaments 
were in almost as good condition for service as ever. 

Meanwhile, Farragut had made up his mind that 
to anchor abreast of these fortifications and attack 



72 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

them would simply be to lose his vessels. It is only 
in its ability to keep moving that a war ship (at least 
a wooden one, and there was not an ironclad in this 
fleet) has an advantage over land works of equal 
armament. To surrender this advantage at the begin- 
ning is to lose the fight at the end. Furthermore, 
he believed that as the sole purpose of the forts was 
to protect the city, if he could lay the city under 
his guns the forts would be abandoned. Consequent- 
ly, in spite of the advice of the eminent army engineer, 
and his friend and brother of^cer. Porter, he deter- 
mined to pass the forts with his whole fleet (except 
the mortar schooners) and appear before New Orleans. 

This was a new thing in warfare, and it is im- 
portant to note it here, because George Dewey, who 
had been promoted to a lieutenancy at the beginning 
of the war, was in that fleet, and Farragut was his 
instructor as well as his commander. 

The passage was to be made in the night, and 
Farragut — who had learned to perform every duty 
that is ever required on shipboard, except those of 
the surgeon — gave in his general orders minute in- 
structions for every preparation, and suggested that 
the officers and crew of each vessel add any other 
precautions that their ingenuity might devise. 

Every man in the fleet was busy. In the fore- 
castle of the Mississippi a group of sailors were mak- 




Whitewashing the decks. 



THE FIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS. 73 

ing splinter nettings, criticising the arrangements for 
the attack, and speculating as to the result. 

" What's Bill Amnion going to do with that white 
paint? " said one. 

" He's going to paint the gun deck," answered a 
comrade. 

"What! paint it white?" 

" Yes, white." 

" What's that for? To make us a better target for 
the reb gunners? " 

" It's to make it so that we can see what we're 
about, and find things when we need them." 

" That seems to say we're going up in the night," 
said the first speaker. 

" You've hit it," said another; " that's exactly 
what we are in for." 

" Whose idea is this of painting the decks? " asked 
a fourth. 

" Bill pretends it's his," said the boatswain's mate. 
" He thinks it's a great idea. But I was by when 
he got his orders, and I know it originated with 
Dewey." 

" I don't care where the idea came from," said 
the sailmaker, " I don't admire it." 

"Why not?" 

" Because it's just the wrong thing. The boys on 
the Pensacola and the Oneida are rubbing: the decks 



74 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



over with mud, so that the Johnnies will have a hard 
time to distinguish them. I think that's the true 
idea." 

" I can't agree with you there," said the boat- 
swain's mate. " As soon as we get fairly into it the 
smoke will be so thick that the Johnnies can't see 
through it very perfectly anyway. And that's just 
when w^e want to see everything on our own deck." 

" It may be so," grumbled the sailmaker; " but if 
it comes to that, old Dewey'd better have the river 
whitewashed, so that he can see to con the ship." 

This bit of sailor wit created laughter, of which 
the little company were in much need, for some of 
them were not at all hopeful of the coming contest. 

" He'll con the ship all right," said another sailor, 
who had not spoken before, and who answered to the 
nickname of Slippery Sim (his real name being Simeon 
Nelson). " I knew him in Montpelier, and I know 
you can depend on him every time." 

" In Montpelier? " said the boatswain's mate. 
" Why, that was about Bill Ammon's latitude and 
longitude, if my reckoning's right." 

" It was, exactly," said Nelson. 

" Then he ought to have know^n Dewey too," said 
the boatswain's mate. 

" Know him? " said Nelson. " I should say he 
did know him. The most famous of all the fights 



THE FIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS. 75 

that ever took place among our boys was between 
him and Dewey." 

" Did you see it? " said the saihuaker eagerly. 

" I did," said Nelson in an impressive tone. " I 
had the honor of holding Ammon's coat." 

" And which Hcked? " asked the sailmaker. 

"Hold on!" said the boatswain's mate. "Don't 
answer that question. Never spoil a good story by 
telling it stern foremost. Give us the whole narra- 
tyve from beginning to end, and don't let us know 
which licked till you get to the very last. If those 
two fellows were at it, I know it must have been 
a tug. A good description of it ought to brace us 
up for the lively fight that's before us." 

" Yes," said another, " it may be the last story 
that some of us will ever hear." 

" Don't be dow^n-hearted, Ned," said the first 
speaker. " I've sailed with old Farragut nearly eight- 
een years, and I know he'll pull us through." 

" I haven't any doubt that he'll pull the fleet 
through all right," said Ned. " But even a victori- 
ous fleet generally has a few red spots on the decks, 
and not so many gunners when it comes out as when 
it went in. It's all right, of course. I'm not finding 
fault, and I'm not any more afraid than I ought to 
be. I expect to stand up and do my duty, as I know 
the rest of you will. But a man can't help being a 



76 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



human creature, with human feehngs, if he is a sailor; 
and when he's killed he's just as much killed, and 
all his pretty plans spoiled, whether it's in a victory 
or in a defeat." 

" That's all true enough, Ned," said the boat- 
swain's mate; "but what we want to cultivate just 
now is the spirit of fight, not the spirit of philosophy. 
Save your philosophy till after the battle, and then 
you'll have plenty of good company, for then every- 
body will be philosophizing about it." 

" They will, indeed," said the sailmaker, " and a 
good many of them wdll be telling how they could 
have managed it better that we did. The great trouble 
in this war is that so many of our best generals and 
admirals who ought to be in the field or on ship- 
board have jobs in barber shops that they don't like 
to give up, or can't be spared from country stores and 
newspaper offices." 

" Oh, belay your sarcasm," said the boatswain's 
mate. " Let's have the story of the big fight between 
Dewey and Ammon, Sim." 

Thereupon Nelson gave a minute and graphic 
account of that schoolboy contest. 

" I don't see," said Ned, " why Bill Ammon never 
has mentioned that he was a schoolmate of Dewey's. 
I should think he would be proud of it." 

" The reason is plain enough," said the sailmaker. 



THE FIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS. 77 

" He was afraid that might lead up to thft story of 
this fight. Probably he would be quite willing that 
it should remain untold." 

" Well, whatever he was in school days," said Ned, 
" Bill's a pretty good fellow now; and I don't see 
that he has much to be ashamed of. It seems he 
put up a good stiff fight then, and I think he'll do 
his duty with the best of us now." 

"Yes, that's so!" responded two or three. 

" Talking about that whitewashing," said the sailor 
who had opened the conversation, " I think it's all 
right enough, but it seems to me it might have been 
applied where it would have done still more good." 

" Where's that, Tom? " said the boatswain's mate. 

" I suppose you know," said Tom, " that the Itasca 
and Pinola went up last night to break the chain and 
make an opening for the fleet to pass through. Cald- 
well did that all right. But it's going to be a mighty 
hard matter to steer these big sea-going vessels 
through that narrow place in the current of a river 
like this and in the smoke of battle. The thing I'm 
most afraid of is that some one of our ships will get 
tangled up among those hulks, and then the rebs can 
just pound her as if they had her in a mortar. Suppose 
the ship at the head of the line should get caught 
across the opening, where would the whole fleet be 
then?" 



78 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

" Of course there is great risk," said the boat- 
swain's mate, " but how are you going to avoid it? 
They took up a new-fangled torpedo to blow up some 
of the hulks and make a wider opening, but the thing 
wouldn't work. Those machines that are to go off 
under water seldom do work." 

" I was thinking," said Tom, " that if they had 
whitewashed the decks of the hulks next to the open- 
ing it would go far to prevent such an accident." 

" You didn't go up there with Caldwell, and 
neither did your brother," said the sailmaker. " If 
you had, I don't think you'd have been anxious to 
whitewash anything and make yourselves a better 
target for the sharpshooters on shore. Our men were 
fired on all the while as it was." 

" I think I could have managed it," said Tom. 

" Tell us how." 

" I would have taken up some buckets of white 
paint — I see you smile, but you've got ahead of your 
reckoning. No, I wasn't going to say I'd take some 
brushes along and make a nice job painting the decks. 
I'd keep the buckets covered up till just as we were 
ready to come away, and then I'd simply overturn 
them on the decks and push ofif. That would whiten 
them enough to help our pilots through." 

" I'm not sure but that's a good idea," said an- 
other sailor. 



THE FIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS. 79 

"Is it?" said the boatswain's mate. "I guess 
you've never sailed with Caldwell or Dewey. If you 
had you'd know that either of them would be more 
horrified at the idea of any such sloppy work, even 
on the deck of an old hulk, than at doubling the 
risk of his ship. They're dandies, both of 'em." 

" If anything gets afoul of the hulks," remarked 
a sailor who had not spoken before, " it will probably 
be this old spinning wheel. The Secretary of the Navy 
that ordered a side-wheeler for a war ship must have 
been born and brought up in the backwoods. If we 
could have got the Colorado over the bar I wouldn't 
be here. She's the ship we ought to have if we're 
going to knock those forts to pieces." 

" I'm not sure that the largest ships are the best 
for this work," said the sailmaker. " This whole fieet 
was built for sea service, and it's out of place in a 
river Hke this." 

" Of course it's a loss not to have the Colorado 
with us," said the boatswain's mate. " But the best 
thing that was aboard of her is with us." 

"What's that?" said several. 

" That old sea dog Bailey," answered the boat- 
swain's mate. " He's no dandy, but he knows what 
to do with a ship in a fight or in a storm or any- 
where else. I was with him on the Lexington in 
forty-six, when we went round Cape Horn to Cali- 



8o THE HERO OF MANILA. 

fornia. That was the beginning of the Mexican War. 
We carried troops and army officers. Bill Sherman, 
who commanded a brigade at Bull Run, was among 
them. So was General Halleck — he was only a lieu- 
tenant then." 

" Bailey's on the Cayuga now," said the sailor 
from the Colorado, " and if Farragut understands his 
business he'll let him lead the line, unless Farragut 
leads it himself in the flagship. I wish I could be 
with him; but when we had to leave the Colorado 
outside they scattered our crew all through the fleet, 
and I just had the luck to be sent to this old coffee 
mill." 

" As long as Doc. Dewey's on the bridge you 
needn't be afraid of her," said Sim Nelson, " whether 
she's a spinning wheel or a coffee mill — and your 
opinion seems to vary on that point. There was lots 
of good fighting before propellers were invented, but 
you appear to think we can't do anything without a 
propeller." 

" A propeller isn't very likely to be struck by a 
shot," said the man from the Colorado; "but these 
old windmill sails going round on each side of this 
tub can hardly help being hit." 

" Now you just quit worrying, and settle your 
mind on an even keel," said Sim Nelson. " There's 
such a thing as ability, and there's such a thing as 



THE FIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS. 8i 

luck. Ability and luck don't always go together — 
more's the pity! There's McDowell at Bull Run, as 
able as any general there, and he planned the battle 
well, and our boys put up a good stiff fight; but 
just at the last the luck turned against him, and then 
where was he? 'Tisn't so with Doc. Dewey. I've 
known him ever since we were boys, and his ability 
and luck always went together, I've no doubt there 
are plenty of good officers in the fleet, but I'm glad 
to have him on the bridge of the ship that I sail 
in. whether it's an old spinning wheel, or a coffee 
mill, or a windmill, or whatever other name you may 
invent for it." 

The man from the Colorado said no more, and 
a few minutes later the boatswain called away half 
of the men who were making netting to assist in pro- 
tecting the boilers and machinery. They piled up 
hammocks and coal in such a way as to stop a good 
many shots that might otherwise reach these vital 
parts of the ship. 

They had not quite finished this task when there 
was a cry of "Fire raft!" followed quickly by an 
order to man two boats. Hardly any time seemed 
to elapse before the boats swung down from the davits 
and the oarsmen pulled away with a strong, steady 
stroke. In the stern of each stood two men with a 
long pole, on the end of which was an iron hook. 



82 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



Up the stream a little way was an immense mass 
of flame, gliding down with the current. In the 
center it was crackling, at the side occasionally hiss- 
ing where a burning stick touched the water, and 
above it rose a dense column of smoke, curved at 
the top and swaying in the light breeze. 

" That's the fifth of those villainous valentines 
they've sent us," said the man from the Colorado. 

" Well, we took good care of the other four," said 
the boatswain, " and I guess we can take care of this, 
though it's the biggest and ugliest of all. It won't 
be long now before we send 'em the answer, post 
paid. Back water, there! back water!" 

This command was uttered and obeyed none too 
quickly. Two of the gunboats — the Kineo and the 
Sciota — trying to avoid the fire raft, collided violently, 
and the mainmast of the Sciota went overboard with 
a crash and just missed striking the boat. Then both 
the gunboats dragged across the bows of the Mis- 
sissippi, but skillful management prevented any fur- 
ther damage there, and the two small boats pulled 
up close to the windward side of the fire raft, at the 
same time with four boats from two other ships. The 
men in the stern struck their hooks into the side of 
the flatboat that formed the base of the blazing pile, 
and the oarsmen pulled for the shore. The heat al- 
most shriveled the skin on their faces, but they bent 



THE FIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS. 83 

to the work with a will, and slowly towed the mon- 
ster away from the line of the fleet, down stream 
more than two miles, and then over to the western 
bank, where they pushed it into the shallow water and 
mud and left it to burn itself away, a beautiful and 
harmless spectacle. 

As they pulled back to their ships they noticed 
that the various crews were at work " stopping " the 
sheet cables up and down the sides, in the line of 
the engines. 

"That's a splendid idea; whose is it?" asked the 
man at the stroke oar. 

" Yes," said the boatswain, " it makes them iron- 
clad as far as it goes. They say it was suggested by 
Engineer Moore, of the Richmond." 

" Splendid fellow! " said the man from the Colo- 
rado. " He was a schoolmate of mine." 

"Where was that?" said the boatswain. 

" Detroit," said the man from the Colorado. " He 
and I used to run away from school together and 
swim across to Windsor." 

" Um — about half a mile," said the boatswain, 
musingly, " and current eight miles an hour — very 
good swimming for boys. But," he added aloud, " Mr. 
Moore ought to know about that. He thinks he 
was born and brought up in Plattsburg, New York — 
I heard him say so — and that his father was in the 



84 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

battle of Lake Champlain. What funny mistakes men 
make about themselves sometimes! " 

The man from the Colorado said no more. 

Two o'clock in the morning of April 24, 1862, was 
fixed as the hour for the fleet to weigh anchor and 
steam up the river. The moon would rise an hour 
and a half later, and it was the intention to pass the 
forts in darkness and have the benefit of moonlight 
after the gauntlet had been run. Five minutes be- 
fore two the signal was given — two red lights at the 
masthead of the flagship; but it was moonrise before 
all were ready and in motion. The question of a 
moon, however, was no longer of any consequence, 
for the Confederates had observed the preparations, 
and had set fire to immense piles of wood that they 
kept for the purpose at the ends of the chain, so that 
the whole scene was as light as day. This did not 
stop Farragut, who had made up his mind to pass the 
forts and lay the city under his guns. 

The mortar schooners moved up stream to a point 
near Fort Jackson, and began a heavy bombardment. 
Then the fleet, in a long line, steamed steadily up 
the river, passed through the opening in the chain, 
and with rapid broadsides swept the bastions of the 
forts as they went by. It was in three divisions. 
The first, consisting of eight vessels, was led by Cap- 
tain Theodorus Bailey in the Cayuga; the second, of 




BATTERY 



First Division— Z«a</j«(7 ynder command of 
Captain Theodonis Bailey. 

1. Cayurra. P'lntr-tiuiiboat, Lieut.-Coni. Harrison. 

2. Pensaccila, Captaiii II. VV. Morris. 

3. Missitisippi. t'aptain M. Smith. 

4. Oneida, Commander S. P. Lee. 
0. Varuna. Commander C. S. Boecs. 

6. Katahdin, Lieut. -Com. G. H. Preble. 

7. Kineo. Lieut. -Com. Ransom. 

8. Wissahickon, Lieut. -Com. A. N. Smith. 

Center Division— .4rf?w»Y«^ Farragut. 
0. Hartford. Commander Wainwright. 
Ki. Brooklyn. Captain T. T. Craven, 
n. Richmond, Commander J. Alden. 

Third Division— 6'a/)/ai« II. II. Bell. 

12. Sciota. Lieut. -Com. Edward Donaldson. 

13. Iroquois. Com. John De Camp. 
U. Kennebec, Lieut.-Com. John II. Russell. 
1.5. Pinola, Lieut. -Com. P. Crosbv. 
10. Itasca, Lieut.-Com. C. H. B. Caldwell. 

17. Winona, Lieut.-Com. E. T. Nichols. 

18. Co.MMANDER PoRTER'S GuNBOATS. 

19. Sloop Portsmouth, Commander S. Swartwout. 



Order of attack on Forts Jackson and St. Philip. 



THE FIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS. 85 

three vessels, by Farragut in the Hartford; and the 
third, of six vessels, by Captain Henry H. Bell in the 
Sciota. 

Following the gunboat Cayuga in the first division 
was the sloop-of-war Pensacola; and next came the 
side-w^heel steamer Mississippi, commanded by Cap- 
tain Melancton Smith. Her conning bridge rested 
with its ends on the tops of the high paddle-boxes, 
and Lieutenant George Dewey, the executive officer, 
was stationed there to direct her course. 

When the signal was given to go ahead Captain 
Smith asked, a little anxiously, " Do you know the 
channel, sir? " 

" Yes, sir," answered Dewey. 

The question was repeated at intervals, and every 
time it received the same confident answer. The 
lieutenant afterward admitted that his knowledge of 
the channel was gained by study of a chart, which 
was supplemented by his confidence that he could tell 
from the appearance of the water. Here his usual 
luck stood him in good stead, as the sailor in the 
forecastle had declared. 

As soon as the Cayuga had passed through the 
opening in the chain, both forts began to fire on her. 
Within a few minutes she was pouring a sheet of 
grape and canister across Fort St. Philip, but she did 
not slacken her pace, and in ten minutes more was 



86 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



engaged with the Confederate fleet that was waiting 
for her up the stream. 

The Pensacola, next in Hne, steamed steadily but 
slowly by, firing with perfect regularity, and doing 
specially fine execution with a rifled eighty-pounder 
and an eleven-inch pivot gun. But she paid for her 
deliberation, as her loss — thirty-seven men — was the 
greatest in the fleet. 

Then came the Mississippi — the old spinning wheel, 
coffee mill, windmill, as the discontented sailor called 
her. By this time the air was so thick with smoke 
from the guns, bonfires, and fire rafts that it was only 
by the flashes that the gunners could see where to 
aim. The Mississippi went by the forts in good style, 
pouring in her fire as she passed, and suffering but 
slight loss from them. But immediately afterward, 
like the two vessels that had preceded her, she en- 
countered the Confederate fleet, which consisted of 
the ironclad ram Manassas, the unfinished ironclad 
floating battery Louisiana, and a dozen gunboats, some 
of which were fitted to be used as rams. The Ma- 
nassas drove straight at the Mississippi, with intention 
to sink her, and would have done so had not Dewey 
ordered a quick shift of the helm, which changed the 
direct blow into a slanting one. This, indeed, gave 
her a severe cut on the port quarter, and disabled 
some of her machinery; but at the same moment the 



THE FIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS. 87 



Mississippi poured a tremendous fire into the ram. 
Then she found herself in the thick of the fight with 
the Confederate fleet. The Oneida and the Varuna 
came close after her, and here was the most desperate 
encounter. Shells, round shot, and canister were ex- 
changed as rapidly as the guns could be handled, some 
of which tore through the sides and found their way 
to the interior, there to break the machinery or burst 
and scatter death, while some swept along the decks 
and struck down the men at the guns. In an action 
like that the men are under the greatest excitement, 
with every muscle tense and every nerve strained; and 
when a ball strikes one it shivers him as if he were 
made of glass, and scatters ghastly fragments over his 
comrades. In the confined space where the men work 
the guns, and with the smoke of battle enveloping 
them, there is no opportunity to dodge the shot or 
know they are coming before they have done their 
work. The only defense consists in rapid and accurate 
firing by the men, with skill and quick judgment on 
the part of him who directs the movements of the 
ship. Everything was ablaze, and the roar was ter- 
rific, when a great shot bounced in at one of the 
ports of the Mississippi, knocked over a gun, killed 
one gunner and wounded three others, and passed out 
on the other side. Almost at the same moment the 
ship from which it was fired received a discharge from 



88 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

the IMississippi that swept away a whole gun's crew. 
Then there were rapid maneuvers, to ram or avoid 
ramming, rake or avoid raking, and all the while the 
guns were booming, shot and splinters were flying 
across the decks, man after man was struck down, and 
blood ran out at the scuppers. Signal men in the rig- 
ging, sailors with howitzers and muskets in the tops, 
officers on the bridges, gunners between decks, en- 
gineers, firemen, and surgeons below — all were in a 
state of intense action. The largest of the Confed- 
erate vessels, a powerful steamer fitted as a ram, at- 
tacked the Varuna, and \yas subjected to a murder- 
ous raking fire from that ship. Finding that his bow 
gun was mounted too far aft to strike her when at 
such close quarters, the Confederate commander de- 
pressed it and fired through the bow of his own ves- 
sel. Then another ram came up and joined in the 
attack, and the Varuna was reduced to a wreck and 
driven ashore. 

Meanwhile, the second division of the fleet came 
up, led by the Hartford. This vessel, in attempting 
to avoid a fire raft, struck on a shoal; then the 
ram Manassas pushed another blazing raft against 
her quarter, and in a moment she was on fire. The 
great excitement thus produced on board the flag- 
ship did not for a moment interfere with the discipline. 
A part of her crew were called to fire quarters and 




iiiMPiiui II liiliiililiiiiiiit' iiiiiliiHIiiiililt'ijBiiiBbiJiiiiiiiiiiiJii^^ 



THE FIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS. 89 

put out the flames, while the rest continued to work 
the guns with perfect regularity. Then she was backed 
off into deep water, and continued up stream, firing 
into every enemy she coukl reach. A steamer loaded 
with men (probably intended as a boarding party) bore 
down upon the flagship, but the marines promptly 
fired a shell into her which exploded, and she dis- 
appeared. 

While the Mississippi was engaged in this desper- 
ate battle an officer on board kept his eye on Lieu- 
tenant Dewey — for on him every movement of the 
ship depended — and he has described the figure of the 
young officer on the high bridge as it was alternately 
hidden by the smoke and illuminated by the flashes 
of the artillery. 

" Every time the dark came back," he says, " I 
felt sure that we never should see Dewey again. 
His cap was blown off, and his eyes were aflame; but 
he gave his orders with the air of a man in thorough 
command of himself." 

The ram Manassas, after her encounter with the 
Mississippi, had passed down the river in pursuit of 
other prey, and delivered a blow at the Brooklyn which 
failed to sink her only because she was promptly 
turned so as not to receive it at right angles. Then 
the ram was discovered coming up stream, and Cap- 
tain Smith signaled to the flagship for permission to 



90 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

attack her with the Mississippi. This being promptly 
granted, the brave old side-wheeler swung about in 
the stream and went straight for her dangerous ene- 
my. She failed in an attempt to run down the ram, 
but crippled it and drove it ashore, when the crew 
were seen to come out at the little hatch, jump to 
the levee, and disappear in the swamp. The Missis- 
sippi then poured into her another broadside, and she 
drifted down the stream and blew up. 

Fourteen of Farragut's seventeen vessels had suc- 
ceeded in passing the obstructions and participating 
in the battle. One of these, the Varuna, was de- 
stroyed. All the others carried the scars of battle, 
and all save one had casualties on board, varying in 
number from thirty-seven on the Pensacola, thirty- 
five on the Brooklyn, and twenty-eight on the Iro- 
quois, to a single one on the Portsmouth. The Mis- 
sissippi lost two men killed and six wounded. The 
total loss in the fleet was thirty-seven men killed and 
a hundred and forty-seven wounded. On the other 
hand, the Confederate fleet was destroyed, the last 
vessel afloat — the ironclad Louisiana — being blowai up 
by her commander three days later; and the next day 
after that a land force commanded by General Butler 
came up in rear of the forts, and they were sur- 
rendered. 

When the dead were laid out side by side on the 



THE FIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS. 91 

decks for the last rites, there were manly tears on 
the faces of many of their shipmates, and the eyes of 
dear old Farragut were not dry. 

The larger part of the fleet pushed on up the river, 
and the next day the city of New Orleans was cap- 
tured. 

No such battle as this had been seen before, and 
no such ever will be seen again. A fleet of wooden 
vessels, all built for sea service, had entered a river 
and fought against obstructions, fire rafts, fortifica- 
tions, rams, ironclads, and gunboats, and had won a 
complete victory over all. This was a wonderful 
school for a young officer. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE BATTLE AT PORT HUDSON. 

New Orleans being captured and firmly held, 
the next problem was to patrol and police the Mis- 
sissippi from that point to Cairo, Illinois, and pre- 
vent the Confederates from crossing it with troops 
and supplies. Thus only could the full fruits of Far- 
ragut's original and brilliant exploit be secured. As 
soon as the war was fairly begun, the Government 
had ordered an ironclad fleet of light draught to be 
built for service on the Western rivers, and many of 
these vessels were completed in a hundred days from 
the laying of the keel. They took pretty good care 
of the river above Vicksburg, and below that point 
Farragut's fleet was expected to do the work. This 
was an arduous and monotonous task, calling for 
patience, endurance, and skill, involving almost daily 
loss of single lives from field artillery and sharp- 
shooters on shore, but giving few opportunities for 
glory. 

At two points, both on the eastern side of the 

river, the Confederates constructed formidable works, 
92 



THE BATTLE AT PORT HUDSON. 93 

with heavy artillery. These were Vicksburg and Port 
Hudson, about a hundred miles apart. The choice 
of these points was for a double reason. At each of 
them a Hue of transportation from the southwest 
reached the river, by which supplies were brought for 
the Confederate armies in the States farther east; and 
at each of them there was a bend in the stream, with 
high bluffs on the eastern side and low land on the 
western. Thus the two points that it was most de- 
sirable to protect were most easily protected. 

General Butler was superseded in command at 
New Orleans by General Banks; and after a time it 
was planned that Banks should move up with a large 
force to attack Port Hudson, while an army under 
General Grant came from above to capture Vicksburg; 
and the fleets were expected to assist in both of these 
campaigns. 

Great difficulties were met by the national armies, 
and everything appeared to move with insufferable 
slowness. The authorities at Washington seemed to 
think that as Farragut's fleet had passed the batteries 
below New Orleans, it could pass any batteries, and 
a spirit of impatience was manifest because the river 
was not quickly and thoroughly cleared and held. A 
very important difference in the circumstances was 
overlooked. The forts below New Orleans were on 
low ground, and as the fleet sailed by, its decks were 



94 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

nearly or quite on a level with the bastions, which 
could be swept by the fire of the broadsides. But 
at Vicksburg and Port Hudson the batteries were on 
high bluffs and could send down a plunging fire on 
the ships, to which the fleet could hardly reply with 
much effect. 

Finally, the Admiral received peremptory orders 
to '■ clear the river through," which meant, run by 
the fortifications of Vicksburg and capture or destroy 
the Confederate vessels above that point that were 
either afloat or being built. The most important of 
these was the powerful ironclad ram Arkansas, which 
was expected to come out of the Arkansas or the 
Yazoo River into the Mississippi and attack the fleet 
of gunboats. 

Farragut had appeared before Vicksburg in May 
and demanded the surrender of the place; but this 
was refused, and without the co-operation of an army 
the demand could not be enforced. The construction 
of the defenses then proceeded more rapidly than be- 
fore, and when his peremptory orders came, late in 
June, the place was very strong. On the 28th he 
attempted the passage with ten vessels, aided by the 
mortar flotilla. While the mortars were raining shells 
into the works the vessels steamed up the river in 
two columns, and all passed the batteries except three 
of the rear division, which, from a misunderstanding 




Order of attack on Fort Hudson. 

A. Ilurtfoni (flaL'slii])), <'aiiliiiii Jiunc8 S. Palmer, a. Alliatrnsw. Lieut. -Com. John 
E. Hart. H. Hicliinonci, CoiiiinuiKler .lames Alden. b. (Jeiiesee, Comiiiaiuier W. H. Ma- 
comb. C. Moiioiii,Mli(la, Captain . I. 1'. .McKiii.stry. c. Kiiieo, IJeiit. -Coin. .John Waters. 
D. iviississipi)!, Captain .Melaneton Smith. E. Essex. Commamler C. II H. Caldwell. 
V. Sachem. Aet. Vol. Lieut. Amos Johnson. O. (i. Mortar scliooners. IL Spot where 
Mississippi f^rouuded. 



THE BATTLE AT PORT HUDSON. 95 

of orders, fell back. The losses in the licet were fifteen 
men killed and forty wounded. One gunl)oat re- 
ceived a shot through the boiler, which killed six 
men by scalding. No other vessel was seriously 
injured. 

Dewey's ship, the Mississippi, did not participate 
in this exploit. The affair has been described briefly 
here because of its influence on a later and more 
hazardous one in which she did take part, to her cost. 
The passage of the Vicksburg batteries convinced the 
men of the navy that, with small loss, they could pass 
any batteries, no matter how situated. Farragut 
wrote: " The Department will perceive from my re- 
port that the forts can be passed, and we have done 
it, and can do it again as often as it may be required 
of us." 

That was in the summer of 1862, when Vicksburg 
was but partially fortified and Port Hudson hardly 
at all. But the Confederate Government awoke to the 
extreme importance of those points, and the work 
of fortifying them went on rapidly. In some respects 
the fortifications of Port Hudson, on the river side 
at least, were even more formidable than those of 
Vicksburg. After a reconnoissance in the autumn of 
1862, Commander Lowry reported: "The plan appears 
to be this: to place their works in such a position 
that, we having passed or silenced one or more of 



96 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



the lower batteries, other concealed batteries open, 
which will throw a cross fire into the stern of the 
vessels, which would then be exposed to a cross fire 
from batteries yet to be approached and silenced and 
from the masked ones left astern." 

In March, 1863, it was arranged that Farragut 
should run by the batteries of Port Hudson, while 
Banks, with twelve thousand men, should assail them 
on the land side. The objects to be gained by 
running by the batteries were: To concentrate the 
fleet above Port Hudson for the destruction of the 
Confederate vessels; to blockade Red River and the 
bayous; and to communicate w-ith the naval and mili- 
tary forces that were besieging Vicksburg. 

On the 14th Farragut completed his preparations, 
and that night was selected as the time for the move- 
ment. His fleet consisted of four ships and three 
gunboats, besides the mortar schooners and their at- 
tendant gunboats. Each of the ships, except the Mis- 
sissippi, was to have a gunboat lashed to its port side, 
so that if one were disabled its gunboat could tow 
it through or out of the fight. The Mississippi could 
not take a gunboat, because she was a side-wheeler. 
All the vessels were trimmed by the head, so that 
if one grounded it would strike bow first and would 
not be swung round l)y the current. And the elab- 
orate precautions that had been taken below New 



THE BATTLE AT PORT HUDSON. 97 



Orleans were repeated. The order of the cokimn was 
this: 

The flagship Hartford, with the gunboat Albatross. 

The Richmond, with the gunboat Genesee. 

The Monongahela, with the gunboat Kineo. 

The Mississippi. 

The " old spinning wheel " was still commanded 
by Captain Melancton Smith, with Lieutenant Dewey 
as his executive officer, as when she participated in 
the capture of New Orleans. 

At Port Hudson there is a sharp bend in the 
river, and the deep channel runs close under the bluffs 
of the eastern bank, while the water shoals of¥ to 
the low western shore. At dusk the signal was dis- 
played for the fleet to form in line and follow the 
flagship. This was a red lantern hung out over the 
stern of the Hartford. The order was quietly and 
promptly obeyed. Like every officer in the fleet. 
Lieutenant George Dewey was at his post and eager 
for the adventure. His post now, as before, was on 
the bridge, to direct the course of the ship. 

Every man on board was alert. The splinter net- 
tings were on, and the carpenters were ready to stop 
shot holes or repair other damage. The marines had 
their muskets in hand to repel boarders. One officer 
was making sure that all was in shape for " fire quar- 
ters " if that order should be sounded, and another 



98 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



was looking to the rined gun. The men at the great 
guns stood with their sleeves rolled up for instant 
work. 

The darkness closed in rapidly, and the night was 
absolutely calm. The Hartford slowly steamed ahead, 
and the other ships took their places in the line. 

But with all possible quietness of preparation the 
vigilant Confederates were not to be deceived or sur- 
prised. ^ Hardly was the fleet under way when two 
rockets rose into the air from the right bank of the 
river, and then the first of the shore batteries dis- 
charged its guns. At the same time several great 
bonfires were lighted, and then everything on the 
river was in plain sight until the battle had gone on 
long enough to produce a great pall of cannon smoke. 
The other shore batteries opened in rapid succession, 
and the mortar schooners promptly began their work. 
The great thirteen-inch shells, with their burning fuses, 
rose in beautiful curves and passed overhead like me- 
teors, to fall and explode within and around the fortifi- 
cations. As the several ships came within reach of the 
enemy they opened fire, and in a little time the 
smoke was so thick that the gunners could only aim 
at the flashes. But they forged ahead steadily, doing 
their best under a terrific fire from the batteries on 
the bluff and the constant rifle practice of sharp- 
shooters on the western bank. The Hartford and her 



THE BATTLE AT PORT HUDSON. 99 

gunboat got by, losing only one man killed and two 
wounded; but, though she had two of the most skill- 
ful pilots, she grounded directly under the enemy's 
guns, and for a little while was in danger of destruc- 
tion. By skillful handling of the gunboat she was 
backed off, and then continued up stream beyond the 
range of fire. The Admiral now looked for his other 
vessels, and they were nowhere to be seen. 

The Richmond, which had almost run into the 
Hartford when she grounded, had reached the last 
battery, and in a few minutes would have been be- 
yond the reach of its guns, when a shot struck her 
steam pipe near the safety valves and disabled her. 
The gunboat was not able to take her farther against 
the strong current, and they were obliged to drop 
down stream out of the fight. They had lost three 
men killed and twelve wounded. A cannon shot took 
off the leg of the executive officer, and he died a few 
days later. An attempt was made to blow her up 
with a torpedo, but at the moment of explosion, 
though it shattered the cabin windows, it was not 
quite near enough to do serious damage. 

The Monongahela grounded on the western shore 
near the bend of the river, and for half an hour was 
exposed to a merciless fire. The rudder of her gun- 
boat had been rendered useless, and then a shot 
wrecked the bridge of the Monongahela, throwing 



THE HERO OF MANILA. 



Captain McKinstry to the deck and disabling him, 
and, passing on, killed three men. Though shots were 
constantly striking her, and had dismounted three of 
her guns, perfect coolness was maintained by the 
officers, with discipline on the part of the crew. The 
gunboat was shifted to the other side of the ship, and 
presently she was pulled off into deep water and re- 
sumed her course up stream, firing shells and shrapnel 
into the fortifications. She had almost passed the 
principal battery when the crank pin of her engine 
became heated, and she could go no farther. Then 
she also was obliged to run down with the current 
out of range. She had lost six men killed and twenty- 
one wounded. 

While Farragut was anxiously looking down 
stream in hope to see the approach of his missing 
fleet, suddenly a great light shot up into the sky, and 
the man at the masthead reported that a ship was 
on fire. 

The Mississippi, like the other vessels, had fol- 
lowed steadily after the flagship, feeling her way amid 
the smoke and rapidly firing her starboard guns, when 
she, like the other ships, grounded at the turn and 
" heeled over three streaks to port." The engine was 
at once reversed, the port guns were run in, and the 
pressure of steam was increased to the greatest 
amount that the boilers would bear, but all in vain — 



THE BATTLE AT PORT HUDSON. loi 

she could not move herself off and she had no .gun- 
boat to assist. 

Meanwhile, three batteries had j^ot her range, and 
under this terrible cross fire she was hulled at every 
discharge. Her starboard guns were still worked 
regularly and as rapidly as possible, to diminish the 
enemy's fire. Then in quick succession came the 
commands from Captain Smith: 

" Spike the port battery and throw it overl)oard! " 
"Spike the pivot gun and throw it overboard!" 
"Bring up the sick and the wounded!" 
The spiking was done by the hands of Lieutenant 
Dewey, Ensign Bachelder, and Assistant-Engineer 
Tower, but there w^as no time to throw the guns 
overboard. 

Every man in the ship knew the meaning of these 
preparations for abandoning her. 

Captain Smith was determined that, as he must 
lose his vessel, nothing should be left of it for the 
enemy. While he was lighting a cigar he said to 
Dewey : 

" It is not likely that we shall escape, and we 
must make every preparation to insure the destruction 
of the ship." 

The crew were ordered to throw the small arms 
overboard, and the engineers to destroy the engine. 
Then fire was set in the forward storeroom, but very 



I02 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

soon three shots that penetrated the side below the 
hne let in enough water to extinguish it. After 
that she was fired in four places. She had been 
struck by the enemy's shot two hundred and fifty 
times. 

There were but three small boats, and these were 
used first to take aw-ay the sick and the wounded. 
At no time w^as the least confusion or disorder appar- 
ent among the crew; but when they saw how rapidly 
the old ship was approaching destruction, and how 
limited were the means of safety, some of them jumped 
overboard and swam for the shore, and these w-ere 
fired at by sharpshooters on the bank. Dewey, no- 
ticing that one of them, a strong swimmer, suddenly 
became almost helpless, guessed that he had been 
struck by a bullet. As the lieutenant then had 
little to do but wait for the return of the boat, he 
plunged into the stream, struck out for the disabled 
sailor, and very soon was near enough to recognize 
him. 

"Hello! is that you, Bill Ammon? " said Dewey. 
" It is, sir," said Bill, not even in his agony for- 
getting the etiquette of shipboard. 
" What has happened to you? " 
" A musket ball in the shoulder, sir." 
The lieutenant had now reached him, and with 
one arm sustained him while he swam slowly to a 



THE BATTLE AT PORT HUDSON. 103 

broken spar that fortunately was afloat at a little 
distance. Finding that his old schoolmate had strength 
enough to cling to this till he should be picked 
up (for the Essex had now come up to assist, 
and her boats were out), Dewey swam back to the 
ship. 

When all had been taken ofT except the captain 
and the executive officer, who were standing on the 
quarter-deck, Captain Smith said: 

" Are you sure she will burn to the water? " 

" I will go down and make sure," Dewey an- 
swered; and down he went into the wardroom, at 
the risk of his life, and saw that everything was 
ablaze. 

When he returned to the deck and reported, the 
captain was satisfied, and then the two officers left 
in the last boat and passed down to the Richmond 
under the fire of the batteries. 

When the flames had sufficiently lightened the 
Mississippi she floated off, swung round into the cur- 
rent, and drifted down stream, bow foremost. 

The port battery, which had been loaded but not 
fired, now went off, sending its shot toward the ene- 
my, as if the old craft knew herself and wanted to 
do her duty to the last. At half past five o'clock in 
the morning the fire reached her magazine, and the 
terrific explosion that followed not only blew the 



I04 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

vessel to fragments, but was heard and felt at a dis- 
tance of several miles. She had lost sixty-four of her 
crew, some of whom were killed by shot, some 
drowned, and some made prisoners when they swam 
ashore. 




Removing the wounded. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE CAPTURE OF FORT FISHER. 

The port of Wilmington, North Carolina, on Cape 
Fear River, about twenty miles from its mouth, was 
one of the most difficult to blockade, and when the 
other ports of the Southern States had been closed 
one after another, this became the Confederacy's main 
reliance for such supplies as had to be imported. 
Hence the desire of the national administration and 
military authorities to seal it up. This could be done 
only by capturing its defenses, and the principal of 
these was Fort Fisher, the strongest earthwork then 
in existence. This fortification, with its outworks, 
occupied the end of the narrow peninsula between 
Cape Fear River and the ocean. It mounted thirty- 
eight heavy guns; the parapets were twenty-five feet 
thick and twenty feet high; there were heavy traverses, 
bombproofed; ditches and palisades surrounded it; and 
outside of these were buried torpedoes connected with 
electric batteries in the casemates. The garrison con- 
sisted of about two thousand men. 

In December, 1864, it was proposed to capture 

105 



io6 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



this work by a combined land and naval force. The 
troops sent for the purpose were commanded by 
General Butler. The fleet was the largest that ever 
had been gathered under the American flag, and was 
commanded by Rear-Admiral David D. Porter. It 
consisted of fifty-six wooden vessels and four iron- 
clads. The Colorado, commanded by Captain Henry 
K. Thatcher, was one of the largest wooden ships; 
she was the one that could not be taken over the bar 
to participate in the attack on the forts below New 
Orleans. Her place in this battle was second ship in 
second division. 

Lieutenant George Dewey, after his experience 
on the Mississippi, had served for a time in the James 
River flotilla under Commander McComb, and then 
was ordered to the Colorado, in which he participated 
in both attacks on Fort Fisher. 

An accidental explosion of a boat load of powder, 
a short time before, which produced a concussion that 
shook down buildings, suggested the possibility of 
damaging the fort by similar means, and it was re- 
solved to try the experiment. An old steamer filled 
with powder and disguised as a blockade runner was 
taken in close to the fort in the night of December 
23d and exploded within three hundred yards of the 
beach. But no efTect whatever was produced upon 
the fort or its equipment. 



HE CAPTURE OF FORT FISHER. 107 

The next day two thirds of the licet — the re- 
mainder being held in reserve — steamed slowly in, 
anchored in their appointed order, and began a bom- 
bardment, directing their hre principally at the guns 
of the fort. This was kept up all day, and there was 
such a play of bursting shells over and within the 
works as never had been seen before. Two magazines 
were exploded, and several buildings were burned. 
The fire was returned by the fort, and some vessels 
were injured by the shells, but no casualties resulted 
from it except by the explosion of a shell in the 
boiler of the Mackinaw. There were serious casualties 
in the fieet, however, from the bursting of hundred- 
pounder riHed guns. There were four of these acci- 
dents, by which fifteen men were killed and twenty- 
two wounded. 

The next day, which was Christmas, the troops 
were landed from the transports, and the fleet re- 
newed the bombardment in the expectation that the 
troops would be marched to the rear of the fort and 
•storm it. But General Butler and General Weitzel 
made a reconnoissance, and agreed that the works 
could not be carried by assault. They therefore re- 
embarked the troops and steamed back to Fort Mon- 
roe. In the two days the fleet had fired fifteen thou- 
sand shells, and disabled nine guns in the fort. 

This fiasco was a disappointment and mortifica- 



io8 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



tion to the President and General Grant, who beheved 
they had furnished a force to which they had a right 
to look for substantial results. They therefore re- 
solved upon a second attempt, and this time the com- 
mand of the troops was intrusted to General Alfred 
H. Terry. Porter's fleet renewed its suppHes of coal 
and ammunition, and at the same time kept up a 
moderate fire on the fort to prevent repair of the 
works or erection of new ones. 

Terry's transports arrived the first week in Janu- 
ary, in the midst of a heavy storm. But the vessels 
rode it out safely, and then preparations were made 
for an early assault. On the 13th the fleet anchored 
as near the fort as the depth of water would permit, 
in the same order as before, and bombarded nearly 
all day while the troops were debarking. A curious 
incident occurred when they shelled the woods back 
of the fort; several hundred cattle there, intended for 
the garrison, were frightened by the bursting shells 
and rushed down to the beach, where Terry's men 
secured them. 

Admiral Amnien, who commanded the Mohican 
in the first division, says: "As the sun went down 
and the shadows fell over the waters, the spectacle 
was truly grand; the smoke rose and partially drifted 
off, permitting glimpses now and then of the earth- 
work, and the fitful yet incessant gleams from the 



THE CAPTURE OF FORT FISHER. ,09 



hundreds of shells bursting on or beyond the parapet 
illuminated, like lightning flashes, the clouds above 
and the smoke of battle beneath." 

General Terry gave his troops a day to rest, get 
over the effects of the sea voyage, and throw up in- 
trenchments across the peninsula two miles above the 
fort. The 15th was fixed upon for the grand assault, 
and the entire fleet had orders to move up and bom- 
bard at an early hour. Admiral Porter thought to 
assist the army further by detailing sixteen hundred 
sailors and four hundred marines to land on the beach 
and assail the sea face of the fort while the army 
stormed the land side. The sailors were armed with 
cutlasses and revolvers, and looked upon this new 
service as a sort of lark, but they found it a serious 
matter before the day was over. They came in sev- 
eral detachments, from different ships, and, never 
having been drilled together for any task of this 
kind, did not know how to work together. But, even 
if they had, it is doubtful if they could have accom- 
plished anything; for, though they sprang to the as- 
sault nimbly enough, a large part of the garrison were 
called to that side of the work to repel them, and 
before they could get near enough to use their pis- 
tols their ranks were so thinned by grape shot and 
musketry that they were compelled to fall back and 
seek shelter. Three times they were rallied by their 



THE HERO OF MANILA. 



officers, and once they got within fifty yards of the 
parapet; but the murderous fire from a dense mass 
of soldiers behind it was too much for them. Four 
of their officers w^ere killed and fifteen were w-ounded, 
while the number of sailors killed or wounded was 
about three hundred. 

But though this assault by the sailors and marines 
was a failure in itself, it assisted the work of capture 
by calling a considerable part of the garrison to the 
sea face while the army assailed the rear of the fort. 
And the bombardment by the fleet was much more 
effective than in the first battle. Colonel Lamb, 
w^ho commanded the fort, says: " In the former bom- 
bardment the fire of the fleet had been diffuse, but 
now it was concentrated and the definite object was 
the destruction of the land defenses by enfilade and 
direct fire. All day and night of the 13th and 14th 
the navy continued its ceaseless torment; it was im- 
possible to repair damages at night on the land face. 
The Ironsides and the monitors bowled their eleven 
and fifteen-inch shells along the parapet, scattering 
shrapnel in the darkness. We could scarcely gather 
up and bury our dead without fresh casualties. At 
least two hundred had been killed and wounded in 
the two days since the fight began." 

In those three days the fleet fired nearly twenty- 
two thousand shells. Terry's troops worked up to 



THE CAPTURE OF FORT FISHER. iii 

positions near the fort, and on the I5tli, when the 
fleet gave the signal for assault by blowing the steam 
whistles, rushed to the work. In spite of all obstruc- 
tions, they gained the parapet; but this w^as only the 
beginning of the task, for the work was provided with 
heavy traverses, and the defenders had to be driven 
from one to another of these, fighting obstinately all 
the way, until the last was reached and surrender 
could no longer be avoided. The assailants had lost 
about seven hundred men, killed or wounded. When 
Fort Fisher fell, the minor defenses at the mouth 
of the Cape Fear fell with it, and the port of Wil- 
mington was closed. General Lee, then besieged at 
Petersburg by Grant, had sent word to its com- 
mander that Fort Fisher must be held or he could 
not subsist his army. 

Thus the young officer on the Colorado, who 
was to become the Hero of Manila thirty-three years 
later, participating in this great conflict and the re- 
sulting victory, received one more lesson in the ter- 
rible art of w^ar. 



CHAPTER X. 

IN TIME OF PEACE. 

Commodore Thatcher, in his report of the at- 
tacks on Fort Fisher, paid the highest compliment to 
Lieutenant Dewey, and that officer, for his meritorious 
services in those actions, was promoted to the rank 
of Lieutenant Commander. The next year (1866) he 
was sent to the European station, on the Kearsarge, 
the famous ship that fought a duel with the Alabama 
one Sunday in June, 1864, off the harbor of Cher- 
bourg, and sent her antagonist to the bottom. 

Early in 1867 he was ordered to duty at the Ports- 
mouth (New Hampshire) navy yard; and in that city 
he met Miss Susie Goodwin, daughter of Ichabod 
Goodwin, the " War Governor " of New Hampshire. 
In the autumn of that year Commander Dewey and 
Miss Goodwin were married. 

After service in the Colorado, the flagship of the 
European squadron, he was detailed as an instructor 
at the Naval Academy, where he spent two years. In 
1872 Mrs. Dewey died in Newport, and the same 
year he was made commander of the Narragansett and 



IN TIME OF PEACE. 113 

sent to the Pacific Coast Survey, on wliich he spent 
four years. Then he was hghthouse inspector and 
secretary of the Lighthouse Board till 1882, when he 
was assigned to the command of the Juniata in the 
Asiatic squadron. The fact that he spent two years 
there was probably one of the reasons that caused the 
administration to choose him for a much more im- 
portant mission in those waters sixteen years later. In 
1884 he received his commission as captain and was 
assigned to the command of the Dolphin. This was 
a new steel vessel, one of the four that formed the 
original " White Squadron," marking a significant 
turning-point in naval architecture. 

The next year Captain Dewey was in command of 
the Pensacola, flagship of the European squadron; and 
in 1889 he was promoted to the rank of commodore 
and made chief of the Bureau of Equipment and Re- 
cruiting at Washington. In 1893 he became a mem- 
ber of the Lighthouse Board, and in 1896 President 
of the Board of Inspection and Survey. 

Such is the record of an eminent naval officer in 
time of peace. But though the record is brief and 
makes a very simple story, the services that it repre- 
sents were long and important. From the firing of 
the last gun in the civil war to the first in the war 
with Spain, a period of thirty-three years — the life 
of a generation — had elapsed. In that interval naval 



114 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

architecture, naval gunnery, and naval tactics under- 
went a greater change than any that they had seen 
since the days of Antony and Cleopatra. If George 
Dewey had stepped out of the naval service when 
the smoke rolled away after the battle of Fort Fisher, 
in 1865, he could not have been the man to win a 
victory that astonished the world in 1898. The maxim 
" In time of peace prepare for war " never was better 
observed than by the United States Government in 
its construction and treatment of the new navy in the 
eighties and the nineties; and it recognized the vital 
point when it secured the highest possible develop- 
ment of gun power by furnishing the man behind the 
gun with plenty of ammunition, however costly, for 
constant target practice, and established prizes for 
good shots. The idea of a modern torpedo boat dart- 
ing at a great cruiser and with one charge of a high 
explosive sending her to the bottom is a terror, but 
the terror is transferred to the other deck when the 
torpedo boat finds herself met with a shower of balls, 
every one having great penetrating power and aimed 
with deadly precision. It is said that the credit for 
the system of target practice belongs primarily to 
Dewey's classmate and lifelong friend, Rear-Admiral 
Francis M. Bunce. 

In those years of peace George Dewey gained many 
friends and admirers bv his evident ability, his modest' 



IN TIME OF PEACE. 115 



firmness of character, his kindly courtesy, and his wide 
range of interest. In one respect he resembles Gen- 
eral Grant. A brother officer says of him: " I have 
known him fairly well for twenty years, and I have 
never heard him swear or brag." 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE BATTLE OF MANILA. 

Three centuries ago the power of Spain in the 
western hemisphere covered a larger area than the 
foreign possessions of any other country in Europe. 
And in the same year in which Cortes, by a romantic 
and amazing miHtary exploit, brought her the king- 
dom of Mexico, Magellan discovered for her another 
rich empire in the Pacific, which she governed, robbed, 
and oppressed for three hundred and seventy-seven 
years, until she lost it — probably forever — one May 
morning, when an American fleet sailed into the bay 
of Manila and won a victory as complete and aston- 
ishing as that of Cortes. The greater part of the 
reasons why such a victory was possible are indicated 
in the foregoing pages, but the circumstances that 
gave occasion for it need explanation. 

Spain's misrule in her colonies finally produced in 
most of them a chronic state of insurrection, and one 
after another they slipped from her grasp. Peru, Bo- 
livia, Coloml)ia, the Argentine, Mexico, Louisiana, 

Florida, and the greater part of the West Indies once 
ii6 



THE BATTLE OF MANILA. 117 

were hers. She ceded Louisiana to France in 1800, 
and Florida to the United States in 1819, and two 
years later Mexico achieved her independence. She 
still had the rich islands of Cuba and Porto Rico in 
the West Indies, and the Philippine group in the East. 
Though there have been revolutions and counter 
revolutions in Spain since the beginning of this cen- 
tury, the colonies have profited by none of them. 
Whether the home government was republic or mon- 
archy, it was equally impressed with the idea that 
colonies were for plunder only. In 1848 the United 
States offered to buy Cuba for one hundred million 
dollars, but the offer was indignantly rejected with 
the remark that there was not gold enough in the 
world to buy that island from Spain. Of the many 
insurrections there, the most serious were that which 
lasted from 1868 to 1878, costing Spain a hundred 
thousand lives and Cuba nearly sixty thousand, and 
that which broke out in 1895. In the former of 
these, forty thousand prisoners who were captured by 
the Spanish troops were deliberately put to death; and 
in the latter such barbarous measures of repression 
were resorted to as subjected, not men alone, but 
women and children, to the most cruel suffering. 
Meanwhile, the United States Government was doing 
its utmost to enforce the laws of neutrality, and a 
part of its navy was kept busy watching the coasts 



ii8 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

and thwarting filibustering schemes, some of which 
were successful in spite of them. 

The feelings of horror excited among the Ameri- 
can people by the atrocities of the Spanish commander 
in Cuba began to demand that somehow or other an 
end be put to them; and every comment on the great 
powers of Europe for permitting the massacre of 
Armenians by the Turks, suggested a parallel criticism 
in regard to the United States and Cuba. 

A similar insurrection was in progress in the 
Philippine Islands. That group is about two hun- 
dred miles from the coast of China. The largest of 
them, Luzon, is about as large as the State of Ohio, 
and the next, Mindanao, is almost as large; while the 
smallest are mere islets. There are nearly two thou- 
sand in all. The total area is estimated at one hundred 
and fourteen thousand square miles (about equal to the 
combined areas of New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania and Maryland), and the total population at seven 
million (about equal to that of the State of New 
York). Of this population more than half are on the 
island of Luzon. Here also is the capital city, Manila, 
with a population (including suburbs) of a quarter of 
a million. 

Some of the original tribes remain in the islands, 
but the present inhabitants are largely Malay, with 
about ten thousand Spaniards and a good many 



THE BATTLE OF MANILA. 119 

Chinese. The principal exports were hemp, sugar, 
rice, coffee, cocoa, and tobacco. The annual revenue 
before the war was about fourteen miUion dollars. 

The capital is in latitude fifteen degrees north, 
about the same as that of Porto Rico, and the south- 
ern point of Mindanao is within five degrees of the 
equator. The group has a length, north and south, 
of twelve hundred miles. The capital city contained a 
cathedral, a university, and a palace for the governor. 
It is on a beautiful land-locked harbor, .twenty-six 
miles from the entrance. This entrance is twelve miles 
wide, but it is divided by two islands, giving one chan- 
nel two miles wide and another five miles. The city 
is divided by the River Pasig, the old town being 
on the south side, and the new town on the north. 
The principal fortifications were at Cavite, on a prom- 
ontory seven miles south of the city, but there were 
others on Corregidor Island, at the entrance. 

In the autumn of 1897 Commodore Dewey's health 
was impaired — possibly from indoor service — and he 
was advised to apply for sea duty to restore it. Vari- 
ous accounts are given of his next assignment, not 
all of which can be true, but on the last day of 
November he was made commander of the Asiatic 
squadron, and a month later he hoisted his flag on 
the Olympia at Nagasaki, Japan. 

The growing feeling in the United States of hor- 



THE HERO OF MANILA. 



ror and indignation at the state of affairs in Cuba 
and the Phihppines found free expression; this roused 
the resentment of the Spanish Government and people, 
and it became evident that not much was required 
to bring on a war between the two nations. An oc- 
currence most deplorable — whether caused by accident 
or by design — in the harbor of Havana, in the night 
of February 14, 1898, brought on the crisis. This 
was the blowing up of the United States battle ship 
Maine by a submarine mine or torpedo. The vessel 
was completely wrecked, and two hundred and sixty- 
six lives were destroyed. She was riding at anchor, 
on the spot selected for her by the Spanish harbor 
authorities, and the greater part of the crew were 
asleep in their hammocks. Probably nine tenths of 
the American people believed that the ship had been 
blown up by treachery, but the moderation and for- 
bearance of both people and Government, while they 
waited for the result of an official investigation, were 
remarkable. The Court of Inquiry was composed of 
experienced officers of high rank, who sat twenty- 
three days and employed divers and experts. Their 
unanimous verdict, delivered on March 21st, declared 
that " the ship was destroyed by the explosion of a 
submarine mine, which caused the partial explosion 
of two or more of her forward magazines, and no 
evidence has been obtainable fixing the responsi- 



THE BATTLE OF MANILA. 121 

bility for the destruction of the Maine upon any 
person or persons." If it was proved that the wreck 
was the work of a submarine mine, it was not dif- 
ficult to guess where the responsibility lay. Congress 
boldly attributed the disaster to " the crime or the 
criminal negligence of the Spanish officials," and the 
people generally agreed with Congress on this point. 

Several members of Congress, notably Senator 
Proctor, formerly Secretary of War, visited Cuba to 
see the condition of affairs for themselves; and their 
reports, with the sickening details, increased the de- 
termination of the American people to interfere in the 
cause of humanity. 

On March 9th, at the President's request. Congress 
passed unanimously a bill appropriating fifty million 
dollars as an emergency fund to be used for the na- 
tional defense. 

In a special message, April nth, the President 
recited the facts, and said: "The forcible intervention 
of the United States as a neutral to stop the war, 
according to the large dictates of humanity, and fol- 
lowing many historical precedents where neighboring 
states have interfered to check the hopeless sacrifice 
of life by internecine conflicts beyond their borders, is 
justifiable on rational grounds." Eight days later Con- 
gress passed a joint resolution declaring war. This date, 
April 19th, was the anniversary of the first bloodshed 



THE HERO OF MANILA. 



in the American Revolution (1775), and also of the 
first in the civil war (1861). Measures for increasing 
both the army and the navy had been taken already. 

The United States naval squadron at Hong Kong 
included most of our force in the Pacific and was well 
supplied; and the cruiser Baltimore, with a large quan- 
tity of stores and ammunition, was added. It now 
consisted of four protected cruisers — the Olympia, the 
Baltimore, the Boston, and the Raleigh — from 3,000 
to 5,870 tons each, and the gunboats Concord and 
Petrel. It carried in all one hundred and thirty-three 
guns. Its commander, George Dewey, was of the 
same age as Farragut at the beginning of the civil 
war — sixty. 

The Commodore had received provisional orders, 
instructing him, in case of war with Spain, to cap- 
ture or destroy the Spanish fleet in the Pacific and 
take possession of the Philippine Islands; and he was 
now promptly notified that he might carry them out. 
The British authorities at Hong Kong gave notice 
that the fleet must leave that port at once, in accord- 
ance with the laws of neutrality, and on April 27th 
Dewey sailed for the Chinese port in Mirs Bay, and 
there completed his preparations. One day later, 
having given the American consul time to get away 
from Manila, he sailed for Subig Bay, thirty miles 
north of that city, expecting to find the Spanish fleet 



THE BATTLE OF MANILA. 123 

there; but it had just gone to Manila Bay, where it 
could have the protection of shore batteries. 

This fleet was commanded by Admiral Montojo. 
Its fighting vessels were seven cruisers — the Reina 
Maria Cristina, the Castilla, the Velasco, the Don 
Antonio de Ulloa, the Don Juan de Austria, the Isla 
de Cuba, and the Isla de Luzon — the gunboats El 
Cano and General Lezo, and four torpedo boats. The 
size of the cruisers was from 1,030 to 3,520 tons, and 
the whole number of guns carried was one hundred 
and thirteen. 

Some of the Spanish officials cherished certain de- 
lusions that appear to have originated with the Span- 
ish newspapers. One was, that if the United States 
Government engaged in a foreign war the Southern 
States would again secede. Another was, that the 
United States navy was without discipline and without 
competent officers, and that the crews were the mere 
riffrafif of all nations, attracted thither by the Hberal 
pay. The Governor-General of the Philippines issued 
a boastful proclamation in which he set forth these 
ideas, and added (more truthfully, perhaps, than he 
suspected), '' The struggle will be short and decisive." 

Whether justly or not, there were suspicions of 
the genuineness of the neutrality to be observed by 
other powers, and an incident at Hong Kong showed 
that Commodore Dewey was not to be trifled with 



124 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

in the discharge of his duty. The German Emperor's 
brother, Prince Henry, called on Dewey in the flag- 
ship, and said in the course of the conversation, " I 
will send my ships to Manila, to see that you be- 
have." " I shall be delighted to have your Highness 
do so," Dewey answered, " but permit me to caution 
you to keep your ships from between my guns and 
the enemy." 

The American fleet followed the Spanish fleet to 
Manila Bay without loss of time, and early Sunday 
morning, May ist, the Spaniards were astonished to 
see their enemy sailing in through the south chan- 
nel. When half the squadron had passed in, one of 
the land batteries opened fire, but without effect. The 
ships continued at slow speed across the great bay, 
looking for their antagonists, and found them in a 
smaller bay — known as Baker Bay — anchored in line 
across its entrance, their left and right protected by 
batteries on the inclosing peninsula and on the main- 
land. Two mines were exploded ahead of the Ameri- 
can flagship as it advanced, but produced no dam- 
age. When the fleets were nearly parallel with each 
other, the distance being two thousand to five thou- 
sand yards, the Commodore said to the captain of the 
Olympia: " You may fire when you are ready, Grid- 
ley," and at once the battle began. Then was seen 
the advantage of training and target practice to the 



THE BATTLE OF MANILA. 125 

men behind the guns. The American fire was remark- 
able for its precision, and almost every shot told, while 
the Spanish fire, though vigorous, was ineffective. 
The Spanish flagship attempted to leave the line and 
go out to engage the Olympia at close range, but 
at once the entire battery of the Olympia was con- 
centrated on her, and she retreated to her former place. 

Following the example set by Du Pont at Hilton 
Head in 1861, the fleet steamed steadily by and re- 
turned in a long ellipse, firing the starboard broad- 
sides as they went up, and the port broadsides as they 
came back. This was repeated five times. The land 
batteries near the city, as well as those on Cavite 
point, opened fire on the fleet, but the Americans did 
not reply to them, their first business being with the 
Spanish vessels. Dewey sent word to the Governor- 
General that unless the city batteries ceased the city 
would be shelled, and this had the desired effect. The 
terrific assault crippled the Spanish vessels, set two 
of them on fire, and killed a great many men; but the 
Spanish sailors were not so deficient in courage as 
in skill, and they stood by their guns manfully. 

Admiral Montojo says in his report: "The enemy 
shortened the distance between us, and, rectifying his 
aim, covered us with a rain of rapid-fire projectiles. 
At half past seven one shell completely destroyed the 
steering-gear. I ordered to steer by hand while the 



126 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

rudder was out of action. In the meanwhile another 
shell exploded on the poop and put nine men out of 
action. Another carried away the mizzen masthead, 
bringing down the flag and my ensign, which were 
replaced immediately. A fresh shell exploded in the 
officers' cabin, covering the hospital with blood and 
destroying the wounded who were being treated there. 
Another exploded in the ammunition room astern, fill- 
ing the quarters with smoke and preventing the work- 
ing of the hand steering-gear. As it was impossible 
to control the fire, I had to flood the magazine when 
the cartridges were beginning to explode. Amidships 
several shells of smaller caliber went through the 
smokestack, and one of the large ones penetrated the 
fire room, putting out of action one master gunner 
and twelve men serving the guns. Another rendered 
useless the starboard bow gun. While the fire astern 
increased, fire was started forward by another shell 
which went through the hull and exploded on the 
deck. The broadside guns, being undamaged, con- 
tinued firing until only one gunner and one seaman 
remained unhurt for working them, as the guns' 
crews had been frequently called upon to substitute 
those charged with steering, all of whom were out 
of action. The ship being out of control, ... I gave 
the order to sink and abandon her before the maga- 
zines should explode." 



THE BATTLE OF MANILA. 127 

All this was on the flagship, and the other Span- 
ish vessels had been used only a little less roughly 
when the American fleet drew off to rest the men and 
have breakfast. How much the rest and refreshment 
were needed can be realized only by those who them- 
selves have been at work in " the iron dens and caves " 
while the battle was raging overhead. A stoker on 
the Olympia, giving an account of his experiences 
during the fight, said: "The battle hatches were all 
battened down, and we were shut in this little hole, 
the ventilating pipes being the only things left open. 
The temperature was nearly up to two hundred de- 
grees, and it was so hot our hair was singed. There 
were several leaks in the steam pipes, and the hiss- 
ing steam made things worse. The clatter of the en- 
p-ines and the roar of the furnaces made such a din 
it seemed one's head would burst. When a man could 
stand it no longer he would put his head under the 
air pipe for a moment. We could tell when our guns 
opened fire by the way the ship shook. Once in a 
while one of the apprentice boys would come to our 
ventilating pipe and shout down to tell us what was 
going on." 

Soon after eleven o'clock the American fleet re- 
turned to the attack, and at this time the Spaniard's 
flagship and most of his other vessels were in flames. 
At half past twelve the firing ceased, for the task was 



128 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

substantially completed; one after another the hostile 
ships had been sunk or driven ashore and burned, and 
the Americans had also poured such a fire into the 
batteries at Cavite as compelled their surrender. 
Dewey's fleet then anchored near the city, leaving the 
gunboat Petrel to complete the destruction of the 
smaller Spanish boats that remained, which was done. 

Thus in about four hours of fighting the American 
had annihilated the Spanish power in the Pacific and 
won a new empire. Admiral Montojo reported his 
losses as three hundred and eighty-one men killed or 
wounded. In the American fleet seven men were 
sHghtly wounded, but none were killed. Some of the 
ships were struck by the Spanish shot, but not one 
was seriously injured. 

A pretty anecdote is told of Dew^ey after the battle. 
When the order had been given to strip for action 
a powder boy lost his coat overboard. He asked per- 
mission to go for it, but was refused. He went 
to the other^side of the ship, went over, and recovered 
his coat, and was then placed under arrest for dis- 
obedience; and after the battle he was tried and found 
guilty. When the sentence was submitted to the Com- 
modore he was curious to know why any one should 
risk his life for a coat, and asked the boy. The little 
fellow, after some hesitation, told him it was because 
his mother's picture was in the pocket. The tears came 



THE BATTLE OF MANILA. 129 

to Dewey's eyes as he gave orders for his release, say- 
ing, " A boy that loves his mother enough to risk 
his life for her picture can not be kept in irons on 
this fleet." 

While no American had any doubt of the re- 
sult of a war with Spain, the whole world was aston- 
ished at a battle that had completely destroyed one 
fleet without serious damage to the other. It was 
evident that a people who had produced John Paul 
Jones, Hull, Porter, Stewart, Bainbridge, Perry, De- 
catur, Farragut, Worden, and Winslow had not yet 
lost the power of producing worthy successors to those 
naval heroes. 

If one wishes to muse on the historic achievements 
of sea power, it is not necessary to visit Copenhagen 
or the Nile, or sit on the shore of Trafalgar Bay; 
the Mississippi and Manila Bay will answer quite as 
well. The United States navy has often been criticised 
at home and sneered at abroad; but it is notable that 
in every war in which it has engaged it has surpassed 
all expectations; and there is no reason to suppose it 
will not continue to do so as long as the nation en- 
dures. 

"When life's last sun gaes feebly down, 
And death comes to their door, 
When a' the world's a dream to them, 
They'll go to sea no more." 



CHAPTER XII. 

AFTER THE BATTLE. 

The first reports of the victory in Manila Bay were 
received with amazement and with considerable in- 
credulity. Among Americans there was little doubt 
— perhaps none at all — as to the result of the war; 
but they did not think to get through it without con- 
siderable losses, and they expected the heaviest ones 
to fall on the navy. The reason for this was in the 
new and untried character of naval architecture and 
armament. From the sailing vessels that fought the 
famous battles of 1812 to the steamers with which 
Farragut passed the batteries on the Mississippi the 
change was not so great and radical as from these to 
the l^eet commanded by Dewey. The cruiser of to-day, 
with its massive sides of metal, its heavy rifled guns 
with improved projectiles, its rapid fire, its electric 
lights and signals, its search-lights and range-finders, 
and other apparatus contributing to celerity and accu- 
racy of work, is more dangerous and destructive, so 
long as it remains intact, than anything that Hull or 

Bainbridge, Du Pont or Farragut, ever saw. But it is 
130 







Admiral Dewey on the bridge of the Olympia. 
(By the courtesy of the Judge Company.) 



AFTER THE BATTLE. 131 

a complicated machine, and nobody knew what it 
would do if seriously crippled, the probability being 
that it would go to the bottom and leave not a floating 
plank to which any poor sailor could cling. At the 
same time a great deal of money and ingenuity had 
been spent in building torpedo boats — more by Euro- 
pean governments than by ours — and it was apprehended 
that these at sea would be like the proverbial snake 
in the grass on land — able to dart quickly and inflict 
a mortal wound on greater and nobler creations than 
themselves. And then came the construction of the 
still swifter craft known as torpedo-boat destroyers, 
with appalling stories of their deadly nature. And 
with all these complex forces afloat there was a very 
natural dread of seeing them tried in actual battle, for 
it was feared that even the victor could not attain 
his victory without fearful disaster. 

So when the news was confirmed that an Ameri- 
can fleet, paying no heed to the probability of tor- 
pedoes in the channel, had steamed into Manila Bay 
by night and in a few hours had sunk or destroyed a 
fleet of nearly equal rating, and then had silenced and 
captured powerful land batteries — and this without the 
loss of a ship or a man — " all the world wondered," 
not merely in the imagination of a poet describing a 
useless exploit, but in reality, because it recognized a 
marvelous revolution in the art of war. History re- 



132 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

corded no such victory until this was repeated in Cuban 
waters, two months later, by another American fleet. 
Nelson had destroyed the fleets of England's enemies, 
but not without blood on the English decks and sor- 
row in English homes. He lost nearly nine hundred 
men in the battle of the Nile, nearly a thousand in the 
battle of the Baltic, and more than fifteen hundred at 
Trafalgar. 

Throughout the United States there was pride and 
rejoicing, and Dewey became a household word. It 
appeared everywhere, and was given as an honored 
name to all sorts of things, from a popgun or a terrier 
to a park or a theatre. In Europe the student of his- 
tory could hardly help putting together four facts and 
suspecting the existence of some significant condition 
or principle behind them — that American naval vessels 
had demonstrated their superiority over the English 
in 1812; that it was an American fleet that, a little later, 
put an end to the payment of tribute by civilized na- 
tions to the Algerine pirates; that the Monitor, an 
American invention, had revolutionized warfare by 
water in 1862; and that American cruisers and gun- 
boats had now had it all their own way in spite of Span- 
ish cruisers, submarine mines, forts, and torpedo boats. 
European governments were anxious to know how it 
was done, and their military authorities dispatched 
officers across the Atlantic to find out. The general 



AFTER THE BATTLE. 133 

explanation was the superiority of the men 1)eliin(l the 
guns, with their alnnulant training and perfect disci- 
pHne. The particular reasons for the result were given 
by Admiral Dewey in conversation with a friend. He 
said: 

" The battle of Manila Bay was fought in Hong 
Kong Harbor — that is, the hard work was done there; 
the execution here was not difficult. With the co- 
operation of the of^cers of the fleet, my plans were 
carefully studied out there, and no detail was omitted. 
Any man who had a suggestion to offer was heard, 
and if it was a good one it was adopted. After the in- 
dications of war were so strong that it appeared inevi- 
table, I devoted my time and energies to making every 
preparation possible. When we left Hong Kong and 
anchored in Mirs Bay, outside of the neutrality limits, 
I had determined upon my line of action. When we 
left there a few days later we sailed away ready for 
battle, and expecting it as soon as we reached the 
neighborhood of Manila. 

" From that hour of departure until we drew out 
of action, Sunday morning. May ist, after destroying 
the Spanish squadron, we practically did not stop the 
engines of our ships. We came directly across from 
the China port to that of Luzon, headed down toward 
the entrance of Manila Bay, reconnoitred Subig Bay, 
where it had been rumored we would find the enemy, 



134 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

made the entrance to Manila, passed Corregidor Island 
by the south channel in the darkness of the night, and 
steamed across the bay close to Manila, where at break 
of day we discovered the Spanish fleet ofif Cavite. Sig- 
naling to prepare for action and follow the flagship, 
I gave orders to steam past the enemy and engage 
their ships. The result you can see by looking at the 
sunken vessels in the harbor. 

" Every ship and every man did his duty well, and 
the marvel of it all is, that not one man on our side 
was killed or even seriously injured. The only harm 
inflicted on the ships was of a trivial nature, although 
the Spaniards kept up a lively fire until their gun 
decks were no longer out of water or they had no men 
to man the guns. The Spanish admiral and officers 
and crew fought bravely, and deserve credit for their 
valor." 

In giving his views of the action, he said: 
" The first lesson of the battle teaches the impor- 
tance of American gunnery and good guns. It con- 
firms my early experiences under Admiral Farragut, 
that combats are decided more by skill in gunnery 
and the quality of the guns than by all else. Tor- 
pedoes and other appliances are good in their way, but 
are of secondary importance. The Spaniards, with 
their combined fleet and forts, were equal to us in gun 
power, but they were unable to harm us because of 



AFTER THE BATTLE. 135 

bad gunnery. Constant practice had made our gun- 
nery destructive, and won the victory, 

*' The second lesson of this battle is the complete 
demonstration of the value of high-grade men. Cheap 
men are not wanted, are not needed, are a loss to the 
United States navy. We should have none but the 
very best men behind the guns. It will not do to have 
able officers and poor men. The men in their class 
must be the equal of the officers in theirs. We must 
have the best men filling all the posts on shipboard. 
To make the attainments of the officers valuable, we 
must have, as we have in this fleet, the best men to 
carry out their commands. 

" The third lesson, not less important than the 
others, is the necessity for inspection. Everything to 
be used in a battle should have been thoroughly in- 
spected by naval officials. If this is done, there will 
be no failure at a crisis in time of danger. Look at 
the difference between our ships and the Spanish ships. 
Everything the Spaniards had was supplied by con- 
tract. Their shells, their powder, all their materials 
were practically worthless, wdiile ours were perfect." 

While the engagement was in progress every place 
in Manila that commanded a view of the bay was 
crow^ded with spectators. There is a curious mingling 
of simplicity and pathos in the comments of a Spanish 
newspaper published in Manila. It said: "Who could 



136 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



have imagined that they would have the rashness 
steaUhily to approach our shores, provoking our de- 
fenders to an unavaiHng display of skill and valor, in 
which, alas! balls could not be propelled by heart 
throbs, else the result would have been different? The 
sound of the shots from our batteries and those from 
the enemy's ships, which awakened the citizens of 
Manila at five o'clock on that May morning, trans- 
formed the character of our peaceful and happy sur- 
roundings. Frightened at the prospect of dangers that 
seemed greater than they were, women and children 
in carriages, or by whatever means they could, sought 
refuge in the outskirts of the city, while all the men, 
from the highest to the lowest, the merchant and the 
mechanic, the soldier and the peasant, the dwellers in 
the interior and those of the coast, repaired to their 
posts and took up arms, confident that never, except 
by passing over their dead bodies, should the soil of 
Manila be defiled by the enemy, notwithstanding that 
from the first it was apparent that the armored ships 
and powerful guns were invulnerable to any effort at 
our command. ... A soldier of the first battalion of 
sharpshooters, who saw the squadron so far out of 
range of our batteries, said, glancing up to heaven, 
' If the Holy Mary would only transform that water 
into land, then the Yankees would see how we could 
fight.' And a Malay who was squatting near by ex- 



AFTER THE BATTLE. 137 

claimed, ' Let them land, and we will crush them 
under heel.' " 

The relative power of tiie opposing fleets may be 
seen from this summary: The Americans had four 
cruisers, two gunboats, and one cutter, carrying fifty- 
seven classified large guns, seventy-six rapid-firing and 
machine guns, and one thousand eight hundred and 
eight men. The Spaniards had seven cruisers, five gun- 
boats, and four torpedo boats, carrying fifty-two classi- 
fied large guns, eighty-three rapid-firing and machine 
guns, and one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine 
men. 

Commodore Dewey's fleet of^cers were : Com- 
mander Benjamin P. Lamberton, chief of stafif; Lieu- 
tenant Thomas M. Brumby, flag lieutenant; Ensign 
Harry H. Caldwell, secretary. 

The line ofKicers of the Olympia were: Captain 
Charles V. Gridley, Lieutenant-Commander Sumner C. 
Paine, Lieutenants Corwin P. Rees. Carlos G. Calkins, 
Valentine S. Nelson. Stokely Morgan, and Samuel M. 
Strite, and Ensigns Montgomery M. Taylor, Frank B. 
Upham, William P. Scott, Arthur G. Kavanaugh, and 
Henry V. Butler. 

The line oflficers of the Baltimore were: Captain 
Nehemiah M. Dyer, Lieutenant-Commander Gottfried 
Blockinger, Lieutenants William Braunersreuther, 
Frank W. Kellogg, John M. Ellicott, and Charles S. 



138 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

Stanworth, and Ensigns George H. Hayward, Michael 
J. McCormack, and N. E. Irwin. 

The Hne officers of the Boston were: Captain Frank 
Wildes, Lieutenant-Commander John A. Norris, Lieu- 
tenants John Gibson and William L. Howard, and 
Ensigns Samuel S. Robinson, Lay H, Everhart, and 
John S. Doddridge. 

The line officers of the Raleigh were: Captain Joseph 

B. Coghlan, Lieutenant-Commander Frederic Singer, 
Lieutenants William, Winder, Benjamin Tappan, Hugh 
Rodman, and Casey B. Morgan, and Ensigns Frank L. 
Chadwick and Provoost Babin. 

The line officers of the Concord were: Commander 
Asa Walker, Lieutenant-Commander George P. Colvo- 
coresses, Lieutenants Thomas B. Howard and Patrick 
W. Hourigan, and Ensigns Louis A. Kaiser, William 

C. Davidson, and Orlo S. Knepper. 

The line officers of the Petrel were: Commander 
Edward P. Wood, Lieutenants Edward M. Hughes, 
Bradley A. Fiske, Albert N. Wood, and Charles P. 
Plunkett, and Ensigns George L. Fermier and William 
S. Montgomery. 

The cutter McCulloch was commanded by Captain 
Daniel B. Hodgsdon. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE PROBLEM ON LAND. 

After the Spanish fleet had been destroyed and 
the forts surrendered, Admiral Dewey demanded the 
surrender of the city of INIanila with all its fortifica- 
tions and military stores. This the Governor-General 
refused. The fleet could have bombarded the citadel 
and the fortifications, but as no land force was at 
hand to garrison the place, and the foreign consuls 
advised against it from fear of revengeful action of 
the insurgents, the Admiral refrained. Instead, he 
estabhshed a strict blockade of the port, while the 
FiHpinos were besieging the city on the land side. He 
destroyed six batteries at the entrance of the bay, and 
occupied Cavite, where he established hospitals in 
which the sick and wounded Spaniards were protected 
and cared for. As his proposal that both sides use 
the telegraph cable unmolested was not accepted by 
the Governor-General, he had it lifted and cut. 

The possibiHty of a peaceful settlement of afi^airs 
in the island had been destroyed by this same Gov- 
ernor, who in an official proclamation had told the 

139 



I40 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

natives that the Americans had murdered all the 
original inhabitants of North America, and that now 
they were coming to rob the Filipinos of their lands, 
reduce many of them to slavery, and substitute the 
Prostestant religion for the Catholic. And the Arch- 
bishop of Manila supplemented this with a pastoral 
letter in which he told the natives that if the Ameri- 
cans were victorious their altars would be desecrated, 
their churches turned into Protestant chapels, vice in- 
culcated instead of moraUty, and every effort made to 
lead their children away from the true faith. 

While affairs on shore were thus working toward 
a serious condition of things for all concerned, there 
had been indications of unfriendliness and a disposition 
to embarrass the operations of the Americans by some 
of the commanders of foreign war ships. This was 
so marked on the part of the Germans that there was 
serious danger of a rupture of the friendly relations 
between the two countries; but the tact and firmness 
of Dewey, who had been intrusted with full discretion 
by his Government, prevented it. None the less anx- 
iously he looked for the arrival from the United States 
of a sufficient land force to capture and hold Manila, 
and he was obliged to use all his skill in diplomacy 
to restrain the Filipinos from attacking the city. 

As soon as an expedition could be prepared, the 
Government sent one, in three divisions. The first. 



THE PROBLEM ON LAND. 141 

under General Francis V. Greene, sailed from San 
Francisco May 25th, and arrived at Manila June 30th; 
the second, under General Thomas H. Anderson, sailed 
June 3d; and the third, under General Arthur McAr- 
thur, arrived July 31st. The whole number of troops 
was nearly twelve thousand. With the third section 
went General Wesley Merritt, commander of the ex- 
pedition, who also had been appointed Military Gov- 
ernor of the Philippines; and with him went General 
Elwell S. Otis, to whom was given the command of 
all the troops in the Philippines, leaving General Mer- 
ritt free to give his energies to the administrative and 
political problems. On the 4th of August the fleet 
was strengthened by the arrival of the monitor Mon- 
terey, which had heavier ordnance than the ten-inch 
Krupp guns that the Spaniards had mounted in the 
shore batteries. 

The troops were landed at Cavite, and occupied 
the trenches on the south side of the city, while the 
Filipino insurgents held those on the east and north. 
The Spanish Governor-General resigned his authority 
to the military commander, and, with the permission 
of Admiral Dewey, was taken away on a German 
cruiser. On the 28th of July the Spaniards made a 
determined assault on the American lines, but were 
driven back; and on August 7th Admiral Dewey and 
General Merritt gave notice that in forty-eight hours 



142 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



they would attack the defenses. Parleying ensued, 
and the Americans extended the time nearly a week 
in order that General Merritt might push his lines 
farther east and take possession of the bridges, and 
thus be able to prevent the insurgents from entering 
the city to loot it and massacre the Spaniards, which 
they were bent upon doing. On the morning of 
August 13th the fleet bombarded the fortifications of 
Malate, setting fire to the stores and ammunition, 
while the Utah battery played on the breastworks. 
Then the Colorado regiment and the California troops 
stormed the works, drove out the Spaniards, and 
fought them from house to house till they reached 
the esplanade, when a white flag was displayed and 
the Spanish commander surrendered and was accorded 
the honors of war. Bodies of insurgents were found 
entering the city, and were driven back by General 
Greene's troops. 

General Merritt issued a proclamation in which he 
assured the inhabitants of the islands that he had only 
come to protect them in their homes, their occupa- 
tions, and their personal and religious rights; that the 
port of Manila would be open to the merchant ships 
of all neutral nations; and that no person would be 
disturbed so long as he preserved the peace. Addi- 
tional troops were sent out, and General Merritt re- 
turned home, leaving General Otis in command. 



THE PROBLEM ON LAND. 143 

Meanwhile, the Spanish fleet on the coast of Cuba 
had been destroyed, July 3d, by an American fleet 
under Acting Rear-Admiral William T. Sampson, with 
Commodore Winfield S. Schley second in command; 
the defenses of Santiago had been captured by the 
land forces under General William R. Shafter; the 
island of Porto Rico was crossed and occupied by an 
expedition under General Nelson A. Miles; and the 
French Ambassador at Washington, in behalf of the 
Spanish Government, had opened negotiations for 
peace. He and Secretary of State William R. Day 
signed a protocol on August 12th. This provided 
for a cessation of hostilities; that Spain should relin- 
quish all claim to Cuba, and cede Porto Rico to the 
United States; that the American forces should hold 
the city and bay of Manila pending the conclusion of 
a treaty of peace, which should determine what would 
be done with the Philippines; and that peace com- 
missioners should be appointed by both governments, 
to meet in Paris not later than October i, 1898. The 
commissioners on the part of the United States were 
Secretary Day, Senator Cushman K. Davis, Senator 
William P. Frye, Hon. Whitelaw Reid, and Senator 
George Gray. The treaty of peace, as finally agreed 
to, November 28th, gave the Philippines to the United 
States, with the stipulation that the American Gov- 
ernment should pay twenty million dollars to Spain for 



144 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

her betterments in those islands. This treaty was 
promptly signed by President McKinley, and after 
much delay was ratified by the Senate, in spite of a 
determined attempt to defeat it. The opponents based 
their objections mainly on what they considered the 
bad policy and dishonesty of retaining the Philip- 
pines. 





The Dewey Sword, the gld of the nation to Admiral Dewey. 
(Tiffany & Co., New York, makers.) 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HONORS. 

Dewey's dispatches of May ist and 4th, announc- 
ing the naval victory and the capture of Cavite, were 
as brief and modest as possible. The shower of honors 
that immediately fell upon him was such as perhaps 
no other man has received within the memory of this 
generation. The Secretary of the Navy, John D. 
Long, telegraphed to him, under date of May 7th: 
" The President, in the name of the American peo- 
ple, thanks you and your officers and men for your 
splendid achievement and overwhelming victory. In 
recognition he has appointed you Acting Admiral, 
and will recommend a vote of thanks to you by Con- 
gress." 

Two days later the President sent a special mes- 
sage to Congress, in w^hich, after briefly recounting 
the victory, he said: " Outweighing any material ad- 
vantage is the moral efTect of this initial success. At 
this unsurpassed achievement the great heart of our 
nation throbs, not with boasting nor wnth greed of 

conquest, but with deep gratitude that this triumph 

145 



146 THE HERO OF MANILA. 

has come in a just cause, and that by the grace of 
God an effective step has thus been taken toward the 
attainment of the wished-for peace. To those whose 
skill, courage, and devotion have won the fight, to the 
gallant commander and the brave ofificers and men who 
aided him, our country owes an incalculable debt. 
Feeling as our people feel, and speaking in their name, 
I sent a message to Commodore Dewey, thanking him 
and his of^cers and men for their splendid achieve- 
ment, and informing him that I had appointed him 
an Acting Rear Admiral. I now recommend that, fol- 
lowing our national precedents, and expressing the 
fervent gratitude of every patriotic heart, the thanks 
of Congress be given Acting Rear-Admiral George 
Dewey, of the United States navy, for highly distin- 
guished conduct in conflict with the enemy, and to 
the officers and men under his command for their gal- 
lantry in the destruction of the enemy's fleet and the 
capture of the enemy's fortifications in the bay of 
Manila." 

Congress promptly, enthusiastically, and unani- 
mously, by a rising vote, passed the joint resolution 
of thanks to Admiral Dewey and to the officers and 
men of his fleet. 

Then a bill was passed unanimously increasing the 
number of rear admirals from six to seven, and the 
President at once promoted Dewey to the full rank. 



HONORS. 147 

Furthermore, a resolution was passed unanimously 
instructing the Secretary of the Navy to present a 
sword of honor to Admiral Dewey, and cause bronze 
medals to be struck commemorating the battle of 
Manila Bay, and distribute them to the officers and 
men who had participated in the battle, and the sum 
of ten thousand dollars was appropriated for the pur- 
pose. 

Two days before the adjournment, in March, 1899, 
Congress passed, without division, a bill reviving the 
grade and rank of Admiral in the United States navy, 
" to provide prompt and adequate reward to Rear- 
Admiral George Dewey, the said grade and rank to 
exist only during the Hfetime of this officer." The 
President signed the bill and gave Admiral Dewey 
the commission on the 2d of March. This made him 
the ranking officer not only of the navy, but of the 
army as well, in any operations where the two arms 
of the service are employed. 

Montpelier celebrated the victory with a public 
demonstration on the 9th of May, in which ten thou- 
sand persons participated. 

The legislatures of several States passed compli- 
mentary resolutions, and in Pennsylvania and Cali- 
fornia May I St was made a legal holiday in commem- 
oration of the victory. 

Money was raised by private subscription for a 



148 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



statue of Admiral Dewey, to be cut in Vermont marble 
and placed beside that of Ethan Allen in the State 
House at Montpelier. Many colleges conferred hon- 
orary degrees upon him, and learned societies and 
social organizations elected him to honorary member- 
ship. 

It is proposed to erect a beautiful memorial hall, 
as an addition to the buildings of Norwich Academy, 
and name it Dewey Hall. 

When, in the summer of 1899, he was relieved and 
ordered home, he came slowly, stopping often for rest 
on shore and being everywhere received with honor. 
A great reception, with an immense procession and 
other demonstrations, was prepared for him in the city 
of New York, where he was to arrive on the 28th 
of September. 




CopjTight, 1!>9!I, by D. r, Fr.nch. 

Bronze tablet for forward turret of Admiral Dewey's 
flagship, Olympia. 

Presented by citizens of Olympia, Wash. 



CHAPTER XV. 

LETTERS. 

When a man has become famous, there is at once 
a desire on the part of the pubHc to know something 
of his character and habits of thought aside from the 
work that has brought him into notice, and these are 
generally shown best by his letters. We are permitted 
to make a few significant extracts from Admiral Dewey's 
correspondence, with which we will close this volume. 

Several Confederate veterans at Clarksville, Tenn., 
some of whom had belonged to the battery that de- 
stroyed the Mississippi when she was trying to pass 
Port Hudson, sent him a letter of congratulation. In 
his reply, dated July 23, 1898, he said: "I can assure 
you that, although I have had letters, resolutions, tele- 
grams, etc., from all parts of the United States, none 
has given me more pleasure than the communication 
from you. One fortunate result of this war with Spain 
is the healing of all tjie wounds that have been rank- 
ling since 1865, and I believe that from now on we 
will be a united people, with no North, no South. 

That result alone will be worth all the sacrifices we 

149 



ISO THE HERO OF MANILA. 

have made. It would give me much pleasure to talk 
over with you those stirring days around Port Hud- 
son, and I hope that pleasure may be in store for me." 

Under date of October 3, 1898, he wrote to Mrs. 
Noss, of Mount Pleasant, Penn., whose husband had 
been killed in the battle of Malete: " I wish to express 
to you my deepest sympathy. It must lessen your 
sorrow somewhat to know that your young husband 
fell fighting bravely for his country, the noblest death 
a man can know. From the Olympia I watched the 
fight that fearful night, and wondered how many Ameri- 
can homes would be saddened by the martyrdom suf- 
fered by our brave men, and my sympathy went out to 
each and every one of them. Your loss has been 
sadder than the others, and I am unable to express the 
sorrow I feel for you. Tears came to my eyes as I read 
the sad story of the father who never saw his child, 
and then the loss of all that was left to the brave 
mother. It is hard sometimes to believe, but our Heav- 
enly Father, in his infinite goodness, always does things 
for the best, and some day father, mother, and daugh- 
ter will be joined, never again to be parted. With my 
tenderest sympathy, believe me your sincere friend." 

In a letter to a friend he wrote, after briefly de- 
scribing the battle: " The Spanish Admiral Montojo 
fought his ships like a hero. He stood on his quarter- 
deck until his ship was ablaze from stem to stern, and 




•k,J 



The Devvej- Triumphal Arch in Madison Square, 
New York. 



(From the model, by the courtesy of the designer, Charles R. I.amb.) 



LETTERS. 



151 



absolutely sinking under his feet; then, transferring 
his flag to the Isla de Cuba, he fought with what was 
left of his fleet, standing fearlessly amid a hail of shrap- 
nel until his second ship and over one hundred of her 
crew sank like lead in a whirl of water. It seems to 
me that history in its roll of heroes should make men- 
tion of an admiral who could fight his ships so bravely 
and stand on the bridge coolly and calmly when his 
fleet captain w^as torn to pieces by one of our shells at 
his side. I sent him a message telling him how I ap- 
preciated the gallantry with which he had fought his 
ships, and the deep admiration my of^cers and men 
felt for the commander of the Reina Cristina, who 
nailed his colors to his mast and then went down with 
his gallant crew. I think, my dear Norton, that had 
you witnessed this, as I did, you too would have sent 
the brave sailor the message I caused to be sent to him, 
to which he responded most courteously." 

Political parties are fain to seize upon popular heroes 
for their presidential candidates — often without much 
reference to the hero's former political afifiliatioiis or 
want of them. The response is not always such an 
emphatic refusal as was given once by General Sher- 
man, and now by Admiral Dewey. This is what the 
Admiral said: 

" I would not accept a nomination for the presi- 
dency of the United States. I have no desire for any 



152 THE HERO OF MANILA. 



political office. I am unfitted for it, having neither the 
education nor the training. I am deeply grateful for 
many expressions of kindly sentiment from the Ameri- 
can people, but I desire to retire in peace to the en- 
joyment of my old age. The navy is one profession, 
politics is another. I am too old to learn a new pro- 
fession now. I have no political associations, and my 
health would never stand the strain of a canvass. I 
have been approached by politicians repeatedly, in one 
way or another, but I have refused absolutely to con- 
sider any proposition whatever. This is final." 



THE END. 



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coast wreckers and divers, and finally on a tour of inspection of lighthouses and light- 
ships, and other interesting phases of nautical and coast life." — Chrisiiati Union. 

HE CRYSTAL HUNTERS. A Boy's Advent- 
ures in the Higher Alps. By George Manvillk Fe.n.n, author 
of "In the King's Name," "Dick o' the Fens," etc. i2mo. 
Cloth, $1.50. 

" This is the boys' favorite author, and of the many books Mr. Fenn has written 
for them this will please them the best. While it will not come under the head of 
sensational, it is yet full of life and of those stirring adventures which boys always de- 
light in." — Christian at Work. 

" English pluck and Swiss coolness are tested to the utmost in these perilous ex- 
plorations among the higher Alps, and quite as thrilling as any of the narrow escapes 
IS the account of the first breathless ascent of a real mountain-peak. It matters little to 
the reader whether the search for crystals is rewarded or not, so concerned does he be- 
come for the fate of the hunters." — Literary World. 

OKZ> BELTON : The Boy who would not go to Sea. 

^^ By George M.\nville Fenn. With 6 full-page Illustrations. 

l2mo. Cloth, $1.50. 

" WTio among the young story-reading public will not rejoice at the sight of the old 
combination, so often proved admirable — a story by Manville Fenn, illustrated by 
Gordon Browne? The story, too, is one of the good old sort, full of life and vigor, 
breeziness and fun. It begins well and goes on better, and from the time Syd joins 
his ship, exciting incidents follow each other in such rapid and brilliant succession that 
nothing short of absolute compulsion would induce the reader to lay it down." — London 
Journal 0/ Education. 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. NEW YORK. 



D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 

pA UL AND VIRGINIA. By Bernardin de Saint- 

"^ Pierre. With a Biographical Sketch, and numerous Illustra- 

tions by Maurice Leloir. 8vo. Cloth, gilt top, uniform with 
" Picciola," " The Story of Colette," and " An Attic Philosopher 
in Paris." $1.50. 
It is believed that this standard edition of " Paul and Virginia " with Leloir's charm- 
Jlg illustrations will prove a most acceptable additicm to the series of illustrated foreign 
classics in which D. Appleton & Co. have published "The Story of Colette," "An 
Attic Philosopher in Paris, and " Picciola." No more sympathetic illustrator than 
Leloir could be found, and his treatment of this masterpiece of French literature invests 
it with a peculiar value. 



P 



A 



ICCIOLA. By X. B. Saintine. With 130 Illustra- 
tions by J. F. GuELDRY. 8vo. Cloth, gilt top, $1.50. 

" S.iintine's ' Picciola,' the pathetic tale of the prisoner who raised a flower between 
the cracks of the flagijing of his dungeon, has pabsed definitely into the list of classic 
books. ... It has never been more beautifully housed than in this edition, with its fine 
typography, binding, and sympathetic illustrations " — Philadelphia 'J'tU-graph. 

" The binding is both unique and tasteful, and the book commends itself strongly as 
one that should meet with general favor in the season of gift-making." — Boston Satur- 
day Evening Gazette, 

"Most beautiftd in its clear type, cream-laid paper, many attractive illustrations, 
and holiday binding." — New York Observer. 

N ATTIC PHILOSOPHER IN PARIS ; or, A 

Peep at the World from a Garret. Being the Journal of a 
Happy Man. By Emii.e Souvestre. With numerous Illustra- 
tions. 8vo. Cloth, gilt top, $1.50. 

" A suitable holiday gift for a friend who appreciates refined literature."— .5cjfo« 
Times. 

"The influence of the book is wholly good. The volume is a particularly hand- 
some one." — Philadelphia Telegraph. 

"It is a classic. It has found an appropriate reliquary. Faithfully translated, 
charmingly illustrated by Jean Claude with fnll-page pictures, vignettes in the text, and 
head and tail pieces, printed in graceful type on h.indsome paper, and bound with an 
art worthy of .Matthews, in half-cloth, ornamented on the cover, it is an exemplary book, 
fit to be ' a treasure for aye." " — New York Times. 

'pHE STOR V OF COLETTE. A new large-paper 
-» edition. With 36 Illustrations. Bvo. Cloth, gilt top, $1.50. 
"One of the handsomest of the books of fiction for the holiday season." — Philadel- 
phia Hulletin. 

" One of the gems of the season. . . . It is the story of the life of young womanhood 
in France, dramatically told, with the light and shade and coloring of the genuine 
artist, and is utterly free from that which mars too many French novels. In its literarj 
finish it is well nigh perfect, indicating the hand of the master." — Boston 1 raveiler. 



New York : D. APPLETON & CO., 72 Fifth Avenue 






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